
Book M$> - 



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THE HISTORY 



THE CONFESSIONAL. 



BY 



JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, D.D., 

BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF VERMONT. 



" At what doth the doctrine concerning Auricular Confession aim, but that thereby 
the priests may have a mighty awe on the consciences of all people, may dive into 
their secrets, may manage their lives as they please ? 

" And. what doth a like necessary particular absolution intend, but to set the priest 
in a lofty state of authority above the people, as a judge of each man's condition and 
dispenser of his salvation ?" — Barrow, Treatise on the Pope's Supremacy. 



NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

82 CLIFF STREET. 

18 50. 



^\|s45* 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and fifty, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
of New York. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

The restless Spirit of the Age manifest in a longing after Change. 
— The Fact shown by the State of every human Institution. — Religion 
not exempted from its Influence. — The sad Effects produced on others. 
— Principles of the Church opposed to Novelty. — Christianity perfect 
in the System of the Apostles. — Nevertheless-, the Spirit of the Age 
operates within the Church, only in the contrary Direction. — Hence 
the longing after Change, while looking to the Old rather than to 
the New, has led, in some Cases, to Romanism. — The gross Error in 
the Leaders of this Movement. — Church of Rome the greatest of all 
Innovators. — The Result has been a Demonstration of our Unity and 
Strength. — The Disaffected were compelled to depart, and enter the 
Communion of Rome. — But they left some Influence behind them. — 
This Influence apparent in Mr. Maskell's Work, urging the Practice 
of Auricular Confession. — A few among us are inclined to follow his 
Course. — Therefore the present Book on the Rise and Progress of the 
Confessional. — The Plan set forth Page 7 

CHAPTER II. 

The Modern Doctrine of the Church of Rome stated at large in the 

Words of the Catechism of the Council of Trent. — On Penance as a 

Virtue and as a Sacrament. — Its Elements, Contrition, Confession, and 

Satisfaction. — Absolution, Secrecy, &c 13 

CHAPTER III. 
The Doctrine of the Church of England stated at large in the Words 
of the Homily of Repentance, the Liturgy and Offices. — The Contrast 
between the Churches of Rome and England shown in fifteen Particu- 
lars 34 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Errors of the Latin Vulgate, and the greater Errors of the 
Doway Version of the Bible shown in forty-two Texts arranged in tab- 
ular Form, along with the original Hebrew and Greek, the corrected 
Version of the Roman Theologians Pagnini and Montanus, and our 
own English Version. — A critical Examination of the Terms of Scrip- 
ture. — The glaring Dishonesty of the Roman Translation 4iJ 



IV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

The Roman Doctrine of Sacramental Absolution tested by Scrip- 
ture. — No Trace of such a System in the Old Testament. — Extract 
from Buxtorf, showing the Practice of the Jews. — Examination of the 
Texts in the New Testament, on which the Romanists rely. — The 
Power of the Keys as exhibited in the Apostolic Administration. — 
The Result shown to be totally irreconcilable with the Romish Doc- 
trine Page 63 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Roman Doctrine of Satisfaction tested by Scripture. — Their 
Arguments examined and shown to be opposed to the true Tenor of 
the Word of God 78 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Testimony of the Fathers. — System of the primitive Church. — 
Tertullian on public Penitence. — Cyprian. — Lactantius. — The Peni- 
tential Canons of the Council of Elvira, and of the Council of Nice. — 
Eusebius of Cesarea. — Athanasius.— Cyril of Jerusalem. — Hilary. — - 
Basil the Great. — Gregory Nazianzen. — All, more or less, in entire 
Discordance with the modern Roman System 93 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Testimony of Ambrose, bishop of Milan, on the public and private 
Exercise of Penitence toward the Close of the fourth Century. — The 
Mode of performing private Penitence. — The Mode of performing 
public Penitence. — The Absolution given by the Priesthood when the 
Offender was restored to the Communion. — The general Results of the 
Divine Correction and Discipline to the penitent Sinner. — Epiphanius. 
— Jerome. — The Roman Scholiast on Jerome states the Opinion of 
Erasmus in our Favor 109 

CHAPTER IX. 
Testimony of Augustin in plain Opposition to the modern Roman 
System. — Some Passages indicate, nevertheless, the Decline of the an- 
cient Strictness, and the Symptoms of an approaching Change. — Proof 
from this Father that the Church had already innovated in many Re- 
spects upon the primitive Simplicity 119 

CHAPTER X. 

Testimony of Socrates and of Sozomen, the ecclesiastical Historians, 
with respect to the Abolition of the Office of penitentiary Priest in the 
Church of Constantinople. — Chrysostom. — Prosper 134 

CHAPTER XI. 

Leo the Great. — A Change made by his Authority in Favor of Se- 
cret Confession. — Gregory the Great. — The Change advanced consid- 
erably, but many salutary and true Opinions delivered by this Pope. 



CONTENTS. V 

intended to regulate and restrain the priestly Power. — Forms of Ab- 
solution from the Sacramentary of Gregory. — Isidore Hispalensis in 
strong Contrast with the modern Roman System Page 142 

CHAPTER XII. 

Forms of Confession in the old Ordo Romanus. — Confession of St. 
Isidore. — Confession of Rotbert. — Confession of St. Fulgentius. — Form 
of Absolution by the Priest. — Another Form. — System of the Church 
in a transition State, but still very far from modern Romanism. . 151 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Roman penitential System from the Bishop of Cambray, Halit- 
garius, in the ninth Century. — Forms of Prayer and Absolution. — Pen- 
itential Canons still in force. — Great Difference between these and the 
present System. — St. Bernard, in the twelfth Century, repeats the Doc- 
trine of the old Fathers ■ 156 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Councils. — Council of Carthage, A.D. 252. — No canonical 
Times of public Penitence yet appointed. — The Council of Elvira be- 
gan the System of canonical Periods of Penitence. — The Councils of 
Aries and of Nice, with a great Number of others, continued to legis- 
late upon the same Subject. — The Penitence laid down by all these 
was public. — The Inconsistency of it with the modern System of se- 
cret Absolution proved by necessary Implication from many of the 
Canons. — The third Council of Carthage. — The fourth Council of Car- 
thage. — The first Council of Toledo. — The Council of Chalons. — The 
Council of Aix-la-Chapelle. — The Constitution of Riculf, bishop of 
Soissons. — The ecclesiastical Laws of King Edgar dictated by Arch- 
bishop Dunstan. — Commutation of Penance, giving the Rich many great 
Advantages over the Poor in obtaining the Absolution of their Sins. 
— The Powers of the Priesthood kept steadily advancing to the Sum- 
mit of Authority 162 

CHAPTER XV. 
The fourth Council of Lateran, A.D. 1215, passed the great Decree 
which compelled all to confess in private and receive Absolution once 
a Year, under the Penalty of Excommunication. — The Canons of this 
Council set forth at large. — Form of Absolution changed from the old 
Language of Prayer to the Indicative, "I absolve thee." — Hugo Me- 
nard's Account of the Change — Proof from Thomas Aquinas. — The 
Institution of Penance as a Sacrament came after this Council. — The 
Doctrine of Thomas Aquinas on the Subject. — This Doctrine was a 
Novelty. — The Practice of the Oriental Churches stated. — Morinus, 
with many other Romanists, admits the Innovation 181 

CHAPTER XVI. 

The Fruits of priestly Despotism shown by priestly Corruption and 
Immorality. — The Council of Oxford and others on this Subject. — The 



VI CONTENTS. 

Mode of conducting the Confessional laid down by the Constitution of 
Coventry, by the Council of Cognac, the Council of Clermont, the 
Council of Cologne, the Council of Exeter, the Council of Toulouse. 
— The Scriptures forbidden to the Laity. — The Council of Trent. — 
The Council of Milan Page 190 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Candid Statements of Fleury, the Roman ecclesiastical Historian, 
-on many Points, corroborating the Views of the Author. — The Cor- 
ruption of the Church consequent upon the Decline of the ancient Sys- 
tem. — Gregory the Seventh. — The Crusades. — Pilgrimages. — Indul- 
gences. — The Mischief produced by the School Divines. — The false 
Maxims of the Confessional 201 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Arguments of Expediency advanced by the Romanists disproved. 
— First, by the comparative Superiority of Protestant over Papal Coun- 
tries. — Secondly, by the Jesuit System, in which the Confessional was 
made to indulge all Sorts of Immorality. — That System shown from 
Pascal's Provincial Letters. — The Jesuits a fair Example for the 
whole practical Results of Romanism 213 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The fourth Lateran Council the Result of Expediency. — The Form 
of private Absolution retained by our Mother Church in the Visitation 
Office, borrowed from the Change brought in by that Council. — Reas- 
ons why it was retained. — Our Church rightly set it aside. — No Au- 
thority for considering it a Part of our System 238 

CHAPTER XX. 

Present State of the Roman Confessional, from the Ursuline Manual, 
set forth in Detail. — Its Errors briefly demonstrated 251 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Conclusion. — The Danger of attempting to introduce into our Church 

any Part of the private Confessional and Absolution of Rome. — Wrong 

in Principle and impossible in Practice. — Innovation on the Apostolic 

System not to be admitted 260 

Appendix, containing the Authorities cited in full 273 



THE 



HISTORY OF THE CONFESSIONAL. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 



We live in an eventful age. A spirit of restless 
enterprise — restless beyond all precedent — is abroad 
throughout the world. Not only is it busy in its ap- 
propriate spheres — the arts, the sciences, and the 
commerce of mankind — but in the forms of govern- 
ment, in the plans of education, in the systems of 
philosophy, in the administration of justice, and in 
every relation of the social state. No human insti- 
tution seems now invested with its old stability. 
Each change is regarded as a preparation for the 
next. And the law of progress is invoked to give 
dignity to the whole work of innovation. 

I shall not attempt to analyze the process by which 
this exciting appetite for novelty has become, to so 
great an extent, the peculiar characteristic of the 
nineteenth century. It would be a difficult task to 
determine how much of it may be fairly ascribed to 
the craving temper of morbid discontent ; how much 
to a generous and noble longing for improvement ; or 
how much to the mysterious and inscrutable appoint- 
ment of that Over-ruling and Almighty Power, who 
holds in His hand the temporal and eternal destinies 
of men. Neither have I any wish to detract from 
the claims which many of our ardent reformers may 



8 THE INNOVATING SPIRIT [dlAP. I. 

advance upon the grateful admiration of their disci- 
pies. And still less am I disposed to speculate upon 
the probable consequences of their success. The field 
is too vast, the interests involved are too multifarious, 
the ultimate results are too complicated, for my hum- 
ble faculty of penetration. But I frankly confess my 
alarm when I see the appetite for novelty invading 
the province of religious truth. And I would fain 
contribute my share of effort — though it may be with 
a feeble hand — to guard the Church of Christ from 
the perils which surround her. 

For unhappily, it can not be denied that the love 
of change has rapidly extended its influence, of 
late years, among the professed followers of the Re- 
deemer. Many important and numerous denomina- 
tions, who had long been supposed established in their 
respective systems, have been torn asunder by new 
questions of internal controversy. New sins have 
been discovered. New terms have been invented. 
New conditions of communion have been proclaimed. 
New revelations have been asserted. Transcendent- 
alism, Pantheism, Swedenborgianism, Mormonism, are 
all at work, with an activity beyond any former exam- 
ple. The conflict of opinion rages over a field which 
is constantly extending, and the increasing difficulty 
of ascertaining what ought to be believed, affords a 
plausible excuse to the infidel for believing nothing. 

It would seem, indeed, that the Church, to which 
it is my highest privilege to belong, might well hope 
to resist, without any serious effort, this tide of inno- 
vation, however we may be bound to grieve, in Chris- 
tian sympathy, over the troubles and distractions of 
our brethren. For we profess to abjure all new dis- 
coveries in the sacred scheme of redemption. We 
believe that the Gospel system issued in perfect 



CHAP. I.] OF THE AGE. 9 

beauty from the hand of its divine Author. We ac- 
knowledge no power in human intellect to improve 
the Church, which was established by the apostles. 
We know that to them and their faithful successors 
the Almighty Saviour promised His presence and 
blessing, to the end of the world. And assured as 
we are, by all the evidence of the Word of God, and 
by the testimony of the primitive ages, that we have 
that celestial system in its purest form, we may be 
justified in thinking ourselves completely guarded 
against the assaults of novelty. 

And yet the spirit of the age, which breeds such 
craving longing after change in others, has not been 
without some hurtful influence upon ourselves. The 
chief difference has been, that as our principles inclined 
us to the old rather than to the new, we were more 
liable to err, if at all, in the opposite direction. And 
hence we have to lament that a few gifted and zeal- 
ous men, yielding to the prevailing temper of restless 
discontent, have sought to improve our apostolic plan, 
by introducing into the Church a modified infusion 
of Romanism. They looked with secret admiration 
upon Popery. They saw it lifting its lofty head, 
hoary with antiquity, boasting its assumed attributes 
of infallible and unchanging truth, contrasting its 
seeming consciousness of unity and power with the 
distracted and conflicting state of the rest of Christen- 
dom, and loudly proclaiming that in its fold alone 
the weary and storm-tost wanderer could find abiding 
peace. Alas ! that they could be so deluded, when 
they ought to have known that the Church of Rome 
has gone beyond all the rest in the vice of innovation. 
True, her sin consists in adding to the divine rec- 
ord, while the sin of others consists in taking away. 
But the Word of God has pronounced a fearful judg- 
A 2 



10 THE OBJECT OF THE WORK. [cHAP. I. 

merit on both, because both are alike the work of hu- 
man presumption. 

Thanks to the blessing of the Most High upon the 
strength of our apostolic and conservative system, the 
dangerous agitation produced by these Romanizing 
innovators passed away without any serious defec- 
tion. Firmly resisted by the great body of our clergy 
and people, and finding themselves unable to make any 
impression upon the scriptural doctrines of the Church, 
the chief leaders of the movement were compelled, one 
by one, to go out from us, and show their true sym- 
pathies by uniting with the papal communion. But, 
notwithstanding the total failure of their main design 
— notwithstanding the result has only been to con- 
firm our humble confidence and trust in the favor of 
God toward the system of His own divine appoint- 
ment, yet their misguided labors, still aided by the 
same restless spirit of the age, have left behind them 
a leaven of evil influence. The latest development 
of this influence has been put forth in the effort to 
recommend the practice of Auricular Confession; not, 
indeed, with all the offensive appendages of the Ro- 
man scheme, but in a modified shape, under the shel- 
ter of a special indulgence, allowed by our venerated 
Mother- Church of England. To this end, the Rev. 
Mr. Maskell, late chaplain of the Bishop of Exeter, 
has published a volume of considerable learning and 
research. And, as might have been expected, there 
are some among our own ministry, of small account 
in number, although deservedly and highly esteemed 
for their personal worth, who seem strongly inclined 
to approve his course and follow his example. 

The rebuke of this attempt, which has been uttered 
with more or less distinctness from almost every quar- 
ter of the Church, has afforded another gratifying proof 



CHAP. I.] THE PLAN PROPOSED. 11 

of our substantial concord ; and I have no reason to 
apprehend that this concord is likely to be soon dis- 
turbed. But I have thought, notwithstanding, that 
the occasion called for a thorough examination of the 
subject, in order that those who wish to investigate 
the rise and progress of the Confessional might have 
the whole merits of the question fairly placed before 
them. For although it is a topic which has often 
been handled learnedly and well, as in the works of 
Hooker, Bingham, and many others, and we have been 
favored, besides, with several able pamphlets of recent 
publication, yet I am not aware that there is any au- 
thor in our language who has gone into it as extens- 
ively as its importance deserves. In the system of 
the Roman Church, the Confessional is the right hand 
of strength. It is in their Confessional that the priest- 
hood wield their vast and secret power over the people. 
It is by the Confessional that they rivet the chains 
of superstition upon the conscience and the soul. The 
total abolition of this fearful despotism was one of the 
great blessings of the Reformation. And therefore the 
subject well deserves the serious attention of every in- 
telligent believer, who desires to understand the value 
of his privileges as a follower of the true doctrine of 
the apostles, and to stand fast in the liberty where- 
with Christ has made him free. 

The plan which I have adopted is as follows : 
First, I shall state at large the Roman system, in the 
words of the Catechism of Trent. Next, I shall set 
forth the doctrine of the Church of England and our 
own, and point out, under fifteen different particulars, 
the contrast between them. Thirdly, I shall examine 
the testimony of Scripture, carefully marking the false 
translations of the Doway version of the Bible, which 
is the English standard of the Roman olergy. Fourth- 



12 THE PLAN PROPOSED, [CHAP. I. 

ly, I shall exhibit in their own language the declara- 
tions of all the more important fathers. Fifthly, I 
shall consider the Acts of the Councils, from the first 
Council of Carthage to the Council of Trent, and the 
Council of Milan ; in connection with which I shall 
discuss the forms of Confession in use, from the sixth 
to the thirteenth centuries, and the change in the 
words of absolution, from the ancient mode of prayer 
to the novel form of, " I absolve thee." Sixthly, I 
shall quote largely from the admissions of the most 
candid of the Roman ecclesiastical historians. And ? 
seventhly, I shall notice the practical proof of experi- 
ence, to show the total ineffieacy of the Roman dis- 
cipline, and the utter absurdity of placing it in com- 
petition with the unerring teaching of the Bible, as a 
guard of Christian morals, or an incentive to Christian 
piety. Thus I hope to furnish to my readers what 
may fairly be considered The History of the Confes- 
sional ; in which the gradual changes will be marked, 
and its progress be made manifest to any reasonable 
and reflecting understanding ; and the result, I trust, 
will demonstrate the comparative novelty and dan- 
gerous errors of the Roman scheme, and the truth and 
scriptural authority of our own really catholic and 
primitive system. 

It may be necessary to add, that I have endeav- 
ored throughout to base my arguments — so far as my 
subject allowed — on the evidence acknowledged by 
the Romanists themselves, in order that their own 
witnesses might be compelled to prove their innova- 
tions. For this reason I have generally quoted the 
Scriptures from their own Doway Bible. I have cited 
the Latin fathers from their own editions, and the 
Greek fathers and Councils from their own Latin ver- 
sions ; and at the end of the volume I have append- 



CHAP. II.] THE ROMAN DOCTRINE. 13 

ed all my authorities in full, each extract being mark- 
ed with its own number ; so that every scholar who 
may choose to undertake the task, can test for him- 
self the fidelity of my translation. 

And now I submit my work to the reader, only 
warning him beforehand that a patient and attentive 
perusal will be required on his part, if he would de- 
rive from it any serious benefit. May the labor which 
it has cost me be made useful, by the Divine blessing, 
to the establishment of truth, and I shall ask no other 
reward. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ROMAN DOCTRINE STATED IN THE CATECHISM OF 
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. 

That all men are sinners, by nature and by prac- 
tice, against the laws of the Almighty, and that the 
forgiveness of sin is only promised through "repent- 
ance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" 
— that gracious Redeemer "who died for our sins, and 
was raised again for our justification" — these are prop- 
ositions about which, among Christians, there can be 
no dissension. The questions which I am pledged to 
discuss do not directly impugn these simple elements 
of divine truth, but turn altogether upon the authority 
of the clergy to compel sinners to confess their sins in 
secret to the priest, and to receive from his lips the 
conveyance of absolution, as well as the positive in- 
junction to perform such acts of penance as he may 
think fit to appoint by way of satisfaction, in order 



14 CATECHISM OF TRENT. [CHAP. II. 

that they may have assurance of forgiveness,, and be 
admitted, as worthy partakers, to the communion of 
the faithful in the Church on earth, and to the so- 
ciety of the blessed in the kingdom of Heaven. 

According to the order which I have prescribed, I 
have to set forth, in the first place, from the Catechism 
of the Council of Trent, the Roman doctrine upon the 
whole subject of what they call the Sacrament of 
Penance. It is a long and ingenious document, and 
I must bespeak for it a careful perusal. 

" As the frailty and weakness of human nature are 
universally known and felt," saith this celebrated Cat- 
echism, " no one can be ignorant of the paramount 
necessity of the Sacrament of Penance. Its exposi- 
tion demands an accuracy superior to that of Bap- 
tism. Baptism is administered but once, and can not 
be repeated ; Penance may be administered, and be- 
comes necessary, as often as we may have sinned after 
Baptism, according to the definition of the Fathers 
of Trent. 'For those who fall into sin after Bap- 
tism,' say they, ' the Sacrament of Penance is as 
necessary to salvation as is Baptism for those who 
have not been already baptized.' On this subject the 
words of S. Jerome, which say that Penance is ' a 
second plank,' are universally known, and highly com- 
mended by all who have written on this sacrament. 
As he who suffers shipwreck has no hope of safety 
unless, perchance, he seize on some plank from the 
wreck; so he that suffers the shipwreck of baptismal 
innocence, unless he cling to the saving plank of Pen* 
ance, may abandon all hope of salvation."^ 

" But to enter more immediately on the subject, 
and to avoid all error to which the ambiguity of the 
word may give rise, its different meanings are first to 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 234-5. 



CHAP. II.] MEANINGS OF THE WORD PENANCE. 15 

be explained. By penance some understand satisfac- 
tion ; while others, who wander far from the doctrine 
of the Catholic faith, supposing penance to have no 
reference to the past, define it to be nothing more than 
newness of life. The pastor, therefore, will teach that 
the word (pcenitentia) has a variety of meanings. In 
the first place, it is used to express a change of mind ; 
as when, without taking into account the nature of 
the object, whether good or bad, what was before 
pleasing is now become displeasing to us. In this 
sense the apostle makes use of the word when he ap- 
plies it to those whose sorrow is according to the world, 
not according to God, and therefore worketh not sal- 
vation, but death. In the second place, it is used to 
express that sorrow which the sinner conceives for sin, 
not, however, for the sake of God, but for his own 
sake. A third meaning is, when we experience in- 
terior sorrow of heart, or give exterior indication of 
such sorrow, not only on account of the sins which 
we have committed, but also for the sake of God 
alone whom they offend. To all these sorts of sor- 
row the word (poenitentia) properly applies."^ 

"When the sacred Scriptures say that God re- 
pented, the expression is evidently figurative. When 
we repent of any thing, we are anxious to change it ; 
and thus when God is said to change any thing, the 
Scriptures, accommodating their language to our ideas, 
say that He repents. Thus we read that it repented 
Him that He had made man. And also that it re- 
pented Him to have made Saul king. But an im- 
portant distinction is to be made between these dif- 
ferent significations of the word : to repent, in its first 
meaning, argues imperfection; in its second, the agi- 
tation of a disturbed mind ; in the third, penance is a 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 235-6. 



16 CATECHISM OF TRENT. [CHAP. II. 

virtue and a sacrament, the sense in which it is here 
used."^ 

" We shall first treat of penance as a virtue, not 
only because it is the bounden duty of the pastor to 
form the faithful, with whose instruction he is charg- 
ed, to the practice of every virtue, but also because the 
acts which proceed from penance as a virtue, consti- 
tute the matter, as it were, of penance as a sacra- 
ment ; and if ignorant of it in this latter sense, it is 
impossible not to be ignorant, also, of its efficacy as a 
sacrament. The faithful, therefore, are first to* be ad- 
monished and exhorted to labor strenuously to attain 
this interior penance of the heart, which we call a vir- 
tue, and without which exterior penance can avail 
them very little. This virtue consists in turning to 
God sincerely and from the heart, and in hating and de- 
testing our past transgressions, with a firm resolution 
of amendment of life, hoping to obtain pardon through 
the mercy of God. It is accompanied with a sincere 
sorrow, which is an agitation and affection of the mind, 
and is called by many a passion. It must, however, 
be preceded by faith, for without faith no man can 
turn to God."f 

" That penance is a virtue, may also be inferred 
from the ends which the penitent proposes to himself. 
The first is to destroy sin, and efface from the soul its 
every spot and stain ; the second, to make satisfac- 
tion to God for the sins which he has committed ; and 
this is an act of justice toward God. Between God 
and man, it is true, no relation of strict justice can 
exist, so great is the distance between the Creator 
and the creature ; yet between both there is evident- 
ly a sort of justice, such as exists between a fa- 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 236. 
t Ibid., p. 236-7. 



CHAP. II.] PENANCE AS A VIRTUE. 17 

ther and his children, between a master and his serv- 
ants. The third end is, to reinstate himself in the 
favor and friendship of God, whom he has offended, 
and whose hatred he has earned by the turpitude of 
sin."* 

" We must also point out the steps by which we 
may ascend to this divine virtue. The mercy of God 
first prevents us and converts our hearts to him ; this 
was the object of the prophet's prayer : < Convert us, 
O Lord ! and we shall be converted.' Illumined by 
this celestial light, the soul next tends to God by 
faith ; a salutary fear of God's judgments follows, and 
the soul, contemplating the punishments that await 
sin, is recalled from the paths of vice. We are also 
animated with a hope of obtaining mercy from God, 
and, cheered by this hope, we resolve on a change of 
life. Lastly, our hearts are inflamed by charity, and 
hence we conceive that filial fear which a dutiful, in- 
genuous child experiences toward a parent. Thus, 
dreading only to offend the majesty of God in any 
thing, we entirely abandon the ways of sin. These 
are, as it were, the steps by which we ascend to this 
most exalted virtue, a virtue altogether heavenly and 
divine, to which the sacred Scriptures promise the in- 
heritance of heaven. ' Do penance,' says the Redeem- 
er, ' for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' l If,' says 
the Prophet Ezekiel, 'the wicked do penance for all his 
sins which he hath committed, and keep all my com- 
mandments, and do judgment and justice, living he 
shall live, and shall not die.' "f 

Thus far there is but little in the doctrine of Rome 
to which we can have any objection. True, we can 
not admit of their translation of the terms of Scrip- 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed\, p. 237-8. 
t Ibid., p. 238-9. 



18 CATECHISM OF TRENT. [CHAP. II. 

ture by the phrase of Doing Penance. But setting 
aside this, with a few other exceptions, the portions 
which I have quoted from the Catechism of the Coun- 
cil of Trent are, in the main, sound and correct. And 
I next pass on to the other features of their system, 
in which the errors will be found numerous and of se- 
rious consequence. 

Having treated of the internal virtue of repentance 
under the term of penance, the Catechism of Trent 
proceeds as follows : 

" With regard to external penance, the pastor will 
teach that it is that which constitutes the sacrament 
of penance : it consists of certain sensible things sig- 
nificant of that which passes interiorly in the soul ; 
and the faithful are to be informed, in the first place, 
why the Redeemer was pleased to give it a place 
among the sacraments. His object was, no doubt, to 
remove, in a great measure, all uncertainty as to the 
pardon of sin promised by our Lord. Pronouncing 
upon his own actions, every man has reason to ques- 
tion the accuracy of his own judgment, and hence, at 
the sincerity of interior penance, the mind must be 
held in anxious suspense. To calm this our solic- 
itude, the Redeemer instituted the sacrament of pen- 
ance, in which we cherish a well-grounded hope that 
our sins are forgiven us by the absolution of the priest, 
and the faith which we justly have in the efficacy of 
the sacraments has much influence in tranquilizing 
the troubled conscience and giving peace to the soul. 
The voice of the priest, who is legitimately constitu- 
ted a minister for the remission of sins, is to be heard 
as that of Christ himself, who said to the lame man, 
i Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee.' "^ 

" That penance is a sacrament, the pastor will not 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 239. 



CHAP. II.] PENANCE AS A SACRAMENT. 19 

find it difficult to establish : baptism is a sacrament 
because it washes away all, particularly original sin : 
penance also washes away all sins of thought or deed 
committed after baptism : on the same principle, 
therefore, penance is a sacrament. Again, and the 
argument is conclusive, a sacrament is the sign of a 
sacred thing, and what is done externally, by the 
priest and penitent, is a sign of what takes place in- 
ternally in the soul : the penitent unequivocally ex- 
presses, by words and actions, that he has turned 
away from sin : the priest, too, by words and actions, 
gives us easily to understand that the mercy of God 
is exercised in the remission of sin : this is, also, 
clearly evinced by these words of the Saviour : ' I 
will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : 
Whatever sins you loose on earth, shall be loosed, 
also, in heaven.' The absolution of the priest, which 
is expressed in words, seals, therefore, the remission 
of sins, which it accomplishes in the soul, and thus 
is penance invested with all the necessary conditions 
of a sacrament, and is, therefore, truly a sacrament."^ 

" That penance is not only to be numbered among 
the sacraments, but also among the sacraments that 
may be repeated, the faithful are next to be taught. 
To Peter, asking if sin may be forgiven seven times, 
our Lord replies : < I say, not seven times, but sev- 
enty times seven.' "f 

"As, then, among the sacraments there is none on 
which the faithful should be better informed, they are 
to be taught that it differs from the other sacraments 
in this : the matter of the other sacraments is some 
production of nature or art ; but the acts of the pen- 
itent, contrition, confession, and satisfaction, consti- 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 240. 
t Ibid., p. 240. 



20 CATECHISM OF TRENT. [cHAP. II. 

tute, as has been defined by the Council of Trent, 
the matter, as it were (quasi materia), of the sacra- 
ment of penance. They are called parts of penance, 
because required in the penitent, by divine institution, 
for the integrity of the sacrament, and the full and 
entire remission of sin. When the holy Synod says 
that they are i the matter, as it were,' it is not be- 
cause they are not the real matter, but because they 
are not, like water in baptism and chrism in confirm- 
ation, matter that may be applied externally. With 
regard to the opinion of some, who hold that the sins 
themselves constitute the matter of this sacrament, 
if well weighed, it will not be found to differ from 
what has been already laid down. We say that 
wood which is consumed by fire is the matter of 
fire ; and sins which are destroyed by penance, may 
also be called, with propriety, the matter of pen- 
ance."^ 

" The form also, because well calculated to excite 
the faithful to receive with fervent devotion the grace 
of this sacrament, the pastor will not omit to explain. 
The words that compose the form are : I absolve 
thee, as may be inferred not only from those words 
of the Redeemer : 6 Whatsoever you shall bind upon 
earth, shall be bound also in heaven,' but also from 
the same doctrine of Jesus Christ, as recorded by the 
apostles. That this is the perfect form of the sacra- 
ment of penance, the very nature of the form of a 
sacrament proves. The form of a sacrament signi- 
fies what the sacrament accomplishes : these words, 
i I absolve thee,' signify the accomplishment of abso- 
lution from sin through the instrumentality of this 
sacrament : they therefore constitute its form. Sins 
are, as it were, the chains by which the soul is fet- 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 240-1. 



CHAP. II.] ABSOLUTION. 21 

tered, and from the bondage of which it is ' loosed ' 
by the sacrament of penance. This form is not less 
true when pronounced by the priest over him, who, 
by means of perfect contrition, has already obtained 
the pardon of his sins. Perfect contrition, it is true, 
reconciles the sinner to God, but his justification is 
not to be ascribed to perfect contrition alone, inde- 
pendently of the desire which it includes of receiving 
the sacrament of penance. Many prayers accompany 
the form, not because they are deemed necessary, but 
in order to remove every obstacle which the unwor- 
thiness of the penitent may oppose to the efficacy of 
the sacrament. Let then the sinner pour out his 
heart in fervent thanks to God, who has invested the 
ministers of his Church with such ample powers ! 
Unlike the authority given to the priests of the Old 
Law, to declare the leper cleansed from his leprosy, 
the power with which the priests of the New Law 
are invested is not simply to declare that sins are 
forgiven, but, as the ministers of God, really to ab- 
solve from sin: a power which God himself, the au- 
thor and source of grace and justification, exercises 
through their ministry."^ 

" The rites used in the administration of this sac- 
rament also demand the serious attention of the 
faithful. Humbled in spirit, the sincere penitent 
casts himself down at the feet of the priest, to testify, 
by this his humble demeanor, that he acknowledges 
the necessity of eradicating pride, the root of all those 
enormities which he now deplores. In the minister 
of God, who sits in the tribunal of penance as his le- 
gitimate judge, he venerates the power and person of 
our Lord Jesus Christ ; for in the administration of 
this, as in that of the other sacraments, the priest 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 241-2. 



22 CATECHISM OP TRENT. [CHAP. II. 

represents the character and discharges the functions 
of Jesus Christ."* 

" To penance belongs, in so special a manner, the 
efficacy of remitting actual guilt, that without its in- 
tervention we can not obtain or even hope for pardon. 
It is written : « Unless you do penance, you shall all 
perish.' These words of our Lord are to be under- 
stood of grievous and deadly sins, although, as St. 
Augustine observes, venial sins also require some pen- 
ance. ' If,' says he, ' without penance, venial sins 
could be remitted, the daily penance, performed for 
them by the Church, would be nugatory.' "f 

" To this sacrament it is peculiar that, besides mat- 
ter and form, which are common to all the sacraments, 
it has also what are called integral parts of penance, 
and these integral parts are contrition, confession, and 
satisfaction. And although, as far as regards the na- 
ture of penance, contrition and confession are suffi- 
cient for justification, yet, if unaccompanied with sat- 
isfaction, something is still wanting to its integrity. 
Why these are integral parts of penance may be thus 
explained. We sin against God by thought, word, 
and deed : when recurring to the power of the keys, 
we should, therefore, endeavor to appease his wrath, 
and obtain the pardon of our sins, by the very same 
means by which we offended his Supreme majesty. 
In further explanation, we may also add, that penance 
is, as it were, a compensation for offenses which pro- 
ceed from the free will of the person offending, and is 
appointed by the will of God, to whom the offense 
has been offered. On the part of the penitent, there- 
fore, a willingness to make this compensation is re- 
quired, and in this willingness chiefly consists contri- 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 242. 
t Ibid., p. 244. 



CHAP. II.] CONTRITION. 23 

tion. The penitent must also submit himself to the 
judgment of the priest, who is the vicegerent of God, 
to enable him to award a punishment proportioned to 
his guilt, and hence are clearly understood the nature 
and necessity of confession and satisfaction."^ 

"By the Fathers of the Council of Trent, contri- 
tion is defined : '« A sorrow and detestation of past 
sin, with a purpose of sinning no more.' "f 

" Other pious exercises, such as alms, fasting, 
prayer, and the like, in themselves holy and com- 
mendable, are sometimes, through human infirmity, 
rejected by Almighty God, but contrition can never 
be rejected by him, never prove unacceptable to him : 
' A contrite and humble heart, O God,' exclaims the 
prophet, ' thou wilt not despise.' Nay, more, the same 
prophet declares that, as soon as we have conceived 
this contrition in our hearts, our sins are forgiven : 
< I said, I will confess my injustice to the Lord, and 
thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.' Of 
this we have a figure in the ten lepers, who, when 
sent by our Lord to the priests, were cured of their 
leprosy before they had reached them : to give us to 
understand that such is the efficacy of true contri- 
tion, of which we have spoken above, that through it 
we obtain from God the immediate pardon of our 
sins."| 

" We now come to confession, which is another 
part of penance. The care and exactness which its 
exposition demands must be at once obvious, if we 
only reflect that whatever of piety, of holiness, of re- 
ligion has been preserved to our times in the Church 
of God, is, in the general opinion of the truly pious, 
to be ascribed in a great measure, under divine Prov- 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 244-5. 
t Ibid., p. 245. t Ibid., p. 251. 



24 CATECHISM OF TRENT. [CHAP. II. 

idence, to the influence of confession. The pastor, 
therefore, will teach, in the first place, that the insti- 
tution of confession is most useful and even neces- 
sary."^ 

" Contrition, it is true, blots out sin, but who is 
ignorant that, to effect this, it must be so intense, so 
ardent, so vehement, as to bear a proportion to the 
magnitude of the crimes which it effaces ? This is a 
degree of contrition which few reach ; hence, through 
perfect contrition alone, very few indeed could hope to 
obtain the pardon of their sins. It therefore became 
necessary that the Almighty, in his mercy, should af- 
ford a less precarious and less difficult means of rec- 
onciliation and of salvation ; and this he has done, 
in his admirable wisdom, by giving to his Church 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven. According to the 
doctrine of the Catholic Church, a doctrine firmly to 
be believed and professed by all her children, if the 
sinner have recourse to the tribunal of penance with 
a sincere sorrow for his sins, and a firm resolution of 
avoiding them in future, although he bring not with 
him that contrition which may be sufficient of itself 
to obtain the pardon of sin, his sins are forgiven by 
the minister of religion through the power of the keys. 
Justly, then, do the holy Fathers proclaim that by 
the keys of the Church the gate of heaven is thrown 
open — a truth which the decree of the Council of 
Florence, declaring that the effect of penance is ab- 
solution from sin, renders it imperative on all unhesi- 
tatingly to believe."! 

" To appreciate the advantages of confession, we 
should not lose sight of an argument which has the 
sanction of experience. To those who have led im- 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 252. 
t Ibid., p. 252-3. 



CHAP. II.] CONFESSION. 25 

moral lives, nothing is found so useful toward a ref- 
ormation of morals as sometimes to disclose their secret 
thoughts, their words, their actions, to a prudent and 
faithful friend, who can guide them by his advice and 
assist them by his co-operation. On the same prin- 
ciple must it prove most salutary to those whose minds 
are agitated by the consciousness of guilt, to make 
known the diseases and wounds of their souls to the 
priest, as the vicegerent of Jesus Christ, bound to 
eternal secrecy by every law, human and divine. In 
the tribunal of penance they will find immediate rem- 
edies, the healing qualities of which will not only re- 
move the present malady, but also prove of such last- 
ing efficacy as to be in future an antidote against the 
easy approach of the same moral disease."^ 

" Another advantage, derivable from confession, is 
too important to be omitted; confession contributes 
powerfully to the preservation of social order. Abol- 
ish sacramental confession, and that moment you del- 
uge society with all sorts of secret crimes- — crimes, too, 
and others of still greater enormity, which men, once 
that they have been depraved by vicious habits, will 
not dread to commit in open day. The salutary shame 
that attends confession restrains licentiousness, bridles 
desire, and coerces the ^vil propensities of human na- 
ture."! 

" Having explained the advantages of confession, 
the pastor will next unfold its nature and efficacy. 
Confession, then, is defined i a sacramental accusation 
of one's self, made to obtain pardon by virtue of the 
keys.' We confess our sins with a view to obtain 
the pardon of them ; and in this respect the tribunal 
of penance differs from other tribunals, which take 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 253. 
t Ibid., p. 253-4. 

B 



26 CATECHISM OF TRENT. [CHAP. II. 

cognizance of capital offenses, and before which a con- 
fession of guilt is sometimes made, not to secure ac- 
quittal, but to justify the sentence of the law."^ 

" The pastor will next teach, with all the decision 
due to a revealed truth — a truth of paramount im- 
portance, that this sacrament owes its institution to 
the singular goodness and mercy of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, who ordered all things well, and solely with 
a view to our salvation. After his resurrection he 
breathed on the assembled apostles, saying, ' Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost : whose sins you shall forgive, 
they are forgiven ; and whose sins you shall retain, 
they are retained.' By investing the sacerdotal char- 
acter with power to retain as well as to remit sins, 
he thus, it is manifest, constitutes them judges in 
the causes on which this discretionary power is to be 
exercised. This he seems to have signified when, 
having raised Lazarus from the dead, he commanded 
his apostles to loose him from the bands in which he 
was bound. This is the interpretation of S. Augus- 
tine. Invested, then, as they are by our Lord with 
power to remit and retain sins, priests are evidently 
appointed judges of the matter on w T hich they are to 
pronounce ; and as, according to the wise admonition 
of the Council of Trent, we can not form an accurate 
judgment on any matter, or award to crime a just 
proportion of punishment, without having previously 
examined and made ourselves well acquainted with 
the cause ; hence arises a necessity, on the part of the 
penitent, of making known to the priest, through the 
medium of confession, each and every sin. That the 
different sorts of sacrifices, which were offered by the 
priests for the expiation of different sorts of sins, seem, 
beyond all doubt, to have reference to sacramental 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 253. 



CHAP. II.] TIMES OF CONFESSION. 2*) 

confession, an examination of the figures of the Old 
Testament will also evince."^ 

"As the law of confession was no doubt enacted 
and established by our Lord himself, it is our duty to 
ascertain on whom, at what age, and at what period 
of the year it becomes obligatory. According to the 
canon of the Council of Lateran, which begins, ' Ora- 
nis utriusque sexus,' no person is bound by the law 
of confession until he has arrived at the use of reason, 
a time determinable by no fixed number of years. It 
may, however, be laid down as a general principle 
that children are bound to go to confession as soon as 
they are able to discern good from evil, and are capa- 
ble of malice ; for, when arrived at an age to attend 
to the work of salvation, every one is bound to have 
recourse to the tribunal of penance, without which 
the sinner can not hope for salvation. In the same 
canon the Church has defined the period within which 
we are bound to discharge the duty of confession : it 
commands all the faithful to confess their sins at least 
once a year. If, however, we consult for our eternal 
interests, we shall certainly not neglect to have re- 
course to confession as often, at least, as we are in 
danger of death, or undertake to perform any act in- 
compatible with the state of sin, such as to adminis- 
ter or receive the sacraments. "f 

" The pastor will on no account omit to inform 
the faithful that to a good confession integrity is es- 
sential. All mortal sins must be revealed to the min- 
ister of religion : venial sins, which do not separate us 
from the grace of God, and into which we frequently 
fall, although, as the experience of the pious proves, 
proper and profitable to be confessed, may be omitted 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 255-6. 
t Ibid., p. 257. 



28 CATECHISM OF TRENT. [CHAP. II. 

without sin, and expiated by a variety of other means. 
Mortal sins, as we have already said, although buried 
in the darkest secrecy, and also sins of desire only, 
such as are forbidden by the ninth and tenth com- 
mandments, are all and each of them to be made mat- 
ter of confession. Such secret sins often inflict deep- 
er wounds on the soul than those which are commit- 
ted openly and publicly. It is, however, a point of 
doctrine defined by the Council of Trent, and as the 
holy Fathers testify, the uniform and universal doc- 
trine of the Catholic Church : « Without the confes- 
sion of his sin,' says S. Ambrose, * no man can be jus- 
tified from his sin.'"^ 

" With the bare enumeration of our mortal sins, we 
should not be satisfied ; that enumeration we should 
accompany with the relation of such circumstances 
as considerably aggravate or extenuate their malice. 
Some circumstances are such as, of themselves, to 
constitute mortal guilt ; on no account or occasion 
whatever, therefore, are such circumstances to be 
omitted."f 

" So important is integrity to confession, that if the 
penitent willfully neglect to accuse himself of some 
sins which should be confessed, and suppress others, 
he not only does not obtain the pardon of his sins, but 
involves himself in deeper guilt."J 

" Prudence and modesty in explaining matters of 
confession are also much to be commended, and a su- 
perfluity of words is to be carefully avoided." 

" Secrecy should be strictly observed as well by 
penitent as priest, and hence, because in such cir- 
cumstances secrecy must be insecure, no one can, on 
any account, confess by messenger or letter."^ 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 258. 
t Ibid., p. 259. t Ibid., p. 259-60. § Ibid., p. 260. 



CHAP. II.] SECRECY IN CONFESSION. 29 

li Besides the power of orders and of jurisdiction, 
which are of absolute necessity, the minister of this 
sacrament, holding as he does the place at once of 
judge and physician, should also be gifted with knowl- 
edge and prudence," &c.^ 

" But as all are anxious that their sins should be 
buried in eternal secrecy, the faithful are to be ad- 
monished that there is no reason whatever to appre- 
hend that what is made known in confession will ever 
be revealed by any priest, or that by it the penitent 
can at any time be brought into danger or difficulty. 
1 Let the priest,' says the great Council of Lateran, 
1 take especial care neither by word nor sign, nor by 
any other means whatever, to betray in the least de- 
gree the sacred trust confided to him by the sinner.' "f 

u The pride of some, who seek by vain excuses to 
justify or extenuate their offenses, is carefully to be 
repressed," &c.$ 

" Still more pernicious is the conduct of those who, 
yielding to a foolish bashfulness, can not induce them- 
selves to confess their sins. Such persons are to be 
encouraged by exhortation, and to be reminded that 
there is no reason whatever why they should yield to 
such false delicacy ; that to no one can it appear sur- 
prising if persons fall into sin, the common malady of 
the human race, and the natural appendage of human 
infirmity. "§ 

"We now come to the third part of penance, which 
is called satisfaction. We shall begin by explaining 
its nature and efficacy, because the enemies of the 
Catholic Church have hence taken ample occasion to 
sow discord and division among Christians. Satis- 
faction, then, is the full payment of a debt ; for when 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 262. 
t Ibid., p. 262. t Ibid., p. 263. § Ibid., p. 264. 



30 CATECHISM OF TRENT. [CHAP. II. 

satisfaction is made, nothing remains to be supplied. 
Hence, when we speak of reconciliation by grace, to 
satisfy is the same as to do that which may be suffi- 
cient to atone to the angered mind for an injury of- 
fered, and thus satisfaction is nothing more than com- 
pensation for an injury done to another. Hence theo- 
logians make use of the word satisfaction to signify 
the compensation made by man to God, by doing some- 
thing in atonement for the sins which he has com- 
mitted.'^ 

"This sort of satisfaction, embracing as it does 
many degrees, admits of many acceptations. The 
first degree of satisfaction, and that which stands pre- 
eminently above all the rest, is that by which what- 
ever is due by us to God on account of our sins is 
paid abundantly, although he should deal with us 
according to the strictest rigor of his justice. This, 
we say, has appeased God and rendered him propi- 
tious to us, and for it we are indebted to Christ alone, 
who, having paid the price of our sins on the cross, 
offered to his eternal Father a superabundant satis- 
faction."! 

" There is another sort of satisfaction which is call- 
ed canonical, and is performed within a certain period 
of time. Hence, according to the most ancient prac- 
tice of the Church, when penitents are absolved from 
their sins, some penance is imposed, the performance 
of which is commonly called satisfaction. "J 

"Any sort of punishment endured for sin, although 
not imposed by the priest, but spontaneously under- 
taken by the sinner, is also called by the same name, 
[t belongs not, however, to penance as a sacrament. 
The satisfaction which constitutes part of the sacra- 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 265. 
t Ibid., p. 265-6. X Ibid., p. 266. 



CHAP. II.] SATISFACTION. 31 

ment is, as we have already said, that which is im- 
posed by the priest, and which must be accompanied 
with a deliberate and firm purpose carefully to avoid 
sin for the future. To satisfy, as some define it, is 
to pay due honor to God, and this, it is evident, no 
person can do who is not resolved to avoid sin. To 
satisfy is also to cut off all occasions of sin, and to 
close every avenue of the heart against its sugges- 
tions. In accordance with this idea of satisfaction, 
some have considered it a cleansing, which effaces 
whatever defilement may remain in the soul from the 
stains of sin, and which exempts us from the tempo- 
ral chastisements due to sin."^ 

" In satisfaction, two things are particularly re- 
quired : the one, that he who satisfies be in a state 
of grace, the friend of God ; works done without faith 
and charity can not be acceptable to God : the oth- 
er, that the works performed be such as are of their 
own nature painful or laborious."! 

" The pastor will teach that every species of satis- 
faction is included under these three heads, prayer, 
fasting, and alms-deeds. Than these three sorts of 
satisfaction, nothing can be more effectual in eradi- 
cating sin from the soul.J 

" But in this the mercy and goodness of God shine 
conspicuous, and demand our grateful acknowledg- 
ments, that he has granted to our frailty the privilege 
that one may satisfy for another. This, however, is 
a privilege which is confined to the satisfactory part 
of penance alone, and extends not to contrition and 
confession. No man can be contrite or confess for 
another, while those who are gifted with divine 
grace may pay through others what is due to the 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 266-7. 
t Ibid., p. 271. t Ibid., p. 271. 



32 CATECHISM OF TRENT. [CHAP. II. 

divine justice ; and thus we may be said in some 
measure to bear each other's burdens. This, however, 
is not universally true in reference to all advantages 
to be derived from works of satisfaction : of these 
works some are also medicinal, and are so many spe- 
cific remedies prescribed to the penitent to heal the 
depraved affections of the heart ; a fruit which, it is 
evident, they alone can derive from them who satisfy 
for themselves."^ 

" The confessor, however, will be scrupulously care- 
ful, before he absolves the penitent whose confession 
he has heard, to insist that, if he has been really guilty 
of having injured his neighbor in property or char- 
acter, he make reparation for the injury ; no person 
is to be absolved until he has first faithfully promised 
to repair fully the injury done ; and as there are 
many who, although free to make large promises to 
comply with their duty in this respect, are yet delib- 
erately determined not to fulfill them, they should be 
obliged to make restitution ; and the words of the 
apostle are to be strongly and frequently pressed upon 
their minds : " He that stole, let him now steal no 
more," &c.f 

" But, in imposing penance, the confessor will do 
nothing arbitrarily ; he will be guided solely by jus- 
tice, prudence, and piety ; and in order to follow this 
rule, and also to impress more deeply on the mind of 
the penitent the enormity of sin, he will find it expe- 
dient to remind him of the severe punishments in- 
flicted by the ancient penitential canons, as they are 
called, for certain sins. The nature of the sin, there- 
fore, will regulate the extent of the satisfaction ; but 
no satisfaction can be more salutary than to require 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 272-3. 
t Ibid., p. 273. 



CHAP. II. I SATISFACTION. 33 

J 4 

of the penitent to devote, for a certain number of 
days, a certain portion of time to prayer, not omit- 
ting to supplicate the divine mercy in behalf of all 
mankind, and particularly for those who have depart- 
ed this life in the Lord. But should it be deemed 
proper sometimes to visit public crimes with public 
penance, and should the penitent express great reluct- 
ance to submit to its performance, his importunity is 
not to be readily yielded to : he should be persuaded 
to embrace with cheerfulness that which is so salu- 
tary to himself and to others."^ 

These extracts from the highest and most unim- 
peachable authority of the Roman Church, are am- 
ply sufficient to show their doctrine in its best and 
fairest guise. I have quoted them in their own con- 
nection, and omitted nothing which seemed to me im- 
portant to their claims. It is my desire to exhibit 
the true position of the question, and to do all possi- 
ble justice to its real character, being perfectly per- 
suaded in my own conscience that no sin can be 
greater than the conducting of a religious controversy 
in a spirit of prejudice and insincerity. And if I 
can not prove that their doctrine, in all its peculiar 
and distinguishing tenets, involves many great and 
serious errors, and that it is utterly without support 
in Scripture and in the records of the primitive 
Church, I shall be content that my book and its au- 
thor should submit to condemnation. 

My next chapter, according to the course laid down, 
shall be devoted to the doctrine of the Church of En- 
gland, so as to show the points of difference between 
it and the Church of Rome. The ground will then 
be clear for an appeal to the Scriptures, the fathers, 
and the records of ecclesiastical history ; and the 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 273-4. 

B 2 



34 THE HOMILY f CHAP. III. 

whole will be concluded by a statement of the precise 
position in which our own communion, the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the United States, has left this 
very serious and important matter. 



CHAPTER, III. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 

The doctrine of the Church of England on the sub- 
ject before us must be gathered from her standards of 
authority, the Homilies, the Liturgy, the Articles, 
and the Canons. The notions of a few individual 
writers, who adopted a different system from that of 
their Church, as it was understood and maintained 
by the great body of their brethren, deserve no con- 
sideration. I shall impute no doctrine to the Roman 
Church which can not be sustained by the writings 
which she has sanctioned, and I shall refuse to ac- 
knowledge any doctrine as fairly chargeable upon the 
Church of England, unless it be supported by a sim- 
ilar rule. To this course every candid mind will as- 
sent without hesitation. 

I commence with the " Homily of Repentance, and 
of true reconciliation unto God," where the subject 
is handled with great force and simplicity. But, for 
brevity's sake, I shall pass over those parts which are 
of a general nature, and confine myself to such ex- 
tracts as may serve to show the difference between 
the Churches. 

" Repentance," saith the Homily (2d part), " is a 
true returning unto God, whereby men, forsaking ut- 



CHAP. III.] ON REPENTANCE. 35 

terly their idolatry and wickedness, do with a lively 
faith embrace, love, and worship the true and living- 
God only, and give themselves to all manner of good 
works, which by God's word they know to be ac- 
ceptable unto him. Now there be four parts of re- 
pentance, which, being set together, may be likened 
to an easy and short ladder, whereby we may climb 
from the bottomless pit of perdition that we cast our- 
selves into by our daily offenses and grievous sins, up 
into the castle or tower of eternal salvation." 

" The first is the contrition of the heart, for we 
must be earnestly sorry for our sins, and unfeignedly 
lament and bewail that we have by them so grievously 
offended our most bounteous and merciful God, who 
so tenderly loved us, that he gave his only-begotten 
Son to die a most bitter death, and to shed his dear 
heart-blood for our redemption and deliverance. And 
verily this inward sorrow and grief being conceived 
in the heart for the heinousness of sin, if it be earnest 
and unfeigned, is as a sacrifice to God, as the holy 
Prophet David doth testify, saying, A sacrifice to God 
is a troubled spirit ; a contrite and broken heart, O 
Lord, thou wilt not despise."*' 

" The second is, an unfeigned confession and ac- 
knowledging of our sins unto God whom by them we 
have so grievously offended, that, if he should deal 
with us according to his justice, we do deserve a 
thousand hells, if there could be so many. Yet if 
we will with a sorrowful and contrite heart make an 
unfeigned confession of them unto God, he will freely 
and frankly forgive them, and so put all of our wick- 
edness out of remembrance before the sight of his 
Majesty, that they shall no more be thought upon. 
Hereunto doth pertain the golden saying of the holy 

* Oxford edition of 1802, p. 456. 



36 THE HOMILY [CHAP. III. 

Prophet David, '-Then I acknowledged my sin un- 
to thee, neither did I hide mine iniquity : I said, I 
will confess against myself my ivickedness unto the 
Lord, and thou forgavest the ungodliness of my sin.' 
These are also the words of John the Evangelist : 
* If we confess our sins, God is faithful and right- 
eous to forgive us our sins, and to make us clean 
from all our wickedness? Which ought to be un- 
derstood of the confession that is made unto God, 
For these are St. Augustine's words : < That confes- 
sion which is made unto God is required by God's 
law, ivhereof John the Apostle speaketh, saying, If 
we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous 
to forgive us our sins, and to make us clean from 
all our wickedness ;' for without this confession sin 
is not forgiven. This is then the chiefest and most 
principal confession that in the Scriptures and Word 
of God we are bidden to make, and without the which 
we shall never obtain pardon and forgiveness of our 
sins. Indeed, besides this, there is another kind of 
confession, which is needful and necessary."^ 

" And of the same doth St. James speak after this 
manner, saying, ' Acknovjledge your faults one to 
another, and pray one for another, that ye may be 
savecV And this is commanded both for him that 
complaineth and for him that heareth, that the one 
should show his grief to the other. The true mean- 
ing of it is, that the faithful ought to acknowledge 
their offenses, whereby come hatred, rancor, grudge, 
or malice, having risen or grown among them one to 
another, that a brotherly reconciliation may be had, 
without the which nothing that we do can be accept- 
able unto God, as our Saviour Jesus Christ doth wit- 
ness himself, saying, < When thou offerest thine offer- 

* Oxford edition of 1802, p. 457. 



CHAP. III.] ON REPENTANCE. 37 

ing at the altar, if thou remember est that thy brother 
hath aught against thee, leave there thine offering, 
and go to be reconciled, and when thou art recon- 
ciled, come and offer thine offering? It may also be 
thus taken, that we ought to confess our weakness 
and infirmities one to another, to the end that, know- 
ing each other's frailness, we may the more earnestly 
pray together unto Almighty God, our heavenly Fa- 
ther, that he will vouchsafe to pardon our infirmities, 
for his Son Jesus Christ's sake, and not to impute 
them unto us, when he shall render to every man ac- 
cording to his works. And whereas the adversaries 
go about to wrest this place, for to maintain their au- 
ricular confession withal, they are greatly deceived 
themselves, and do shamefully deceive others ; for if 
this text ought to be understood of auricular confes- 
sion, then the priests are as much bound to confess 
themselves unto the lay people as the lay people are 
bound to confess themselves to them. And if to pray 
is to absolve, then the laity, by this place, hath as 
great authority to absolve the priests as the priests 
have to absolve the laity. And where they do allege 
this saying of our Saviour Jesus Christ unto the 
leper, to prove auricular confession to stand on God's 
word, ' Go thy way, and show thyself unto the priest,' 
do they not see that the leper was cleansed from his 
leprosy before he was by Christ sent unto the priest 
for to show himself unto him ? By the same reason 
we must be cleansed from our spiritual leprosy ; I 
mean, our sins must be forgiven us before that we 
come to confession. What need we, then, to tell forth 
our sins into the ear of the priest, sith they be already 
taken away ? Therefore, holy Ambrose, in his second 
sermon upon the 119th Psalm, doth say full well, 
' Go show thyself unto the priest. Wlio is the true 



38 THE HOMILY [cHAP. III. 

priest but he which is the Priest forever after the or- 
der of Melchizedek ?\ Whereby this holy father doth 
understand that both the priesthood and the law being 
changed, we ought to acknowledge none other priest 
for deliverance from our sins but our Saviour Jesus 
Christ, who, being Sovereign Bishop, doth with the 
sacrifice of his body and blood, offered once forever 
upon the altar of the cross, most effectually cleanse 
the spiritual leprosy, and wash away the sins of all 
those who, with true confession of the same, do flee 
unto him. It is most evident and plain that this au- 
ricular confession hath not his warrant of God's word, 
else it had not been lawful for Nectarius, bishop of 
Constantinople, upon a just occasion to have put it 
down ; for when any thing ordained of God is, by 
the lewdness of men, abused, the abuse ought to be 
taken away, and the thing itself suffered to remain. 
Moreover, these are St. Augustine's words, < What have 
I to do with men that they should hear my confession, 
as though they were able to heal my diseases ? A 
curious sort of men to know another marts life, and 
slothful to correct and amend their own. Why do 
they seek to hear of me what I am, which ivill not 
hear of thee what they are ? And how can they tell, 
when they hear by me of myself, whether I tell the 
truth or not ; sith no mortal man knoweth what is in 
man, but the spirit of man ivhich is in him ?' Au- 
gustine would not have written thus, if auricular con- 
fession had been used in his time. Being, therefore, 
not led with the conscience thereof, let us, with fear 
and trembling, and with a true contrite heart, use 
that kind of confession that God doth command in his 
word ; and then doubtless, as he is faithful and right- 
eous, he will forgive us our sins, and make us clean 
from all wickedness. I do not say but that if any do 



CHAP. III.] ON REPENTANCE. 39 

find themselves troubled in conscience, they may re- 
pair to their learned curate or pastor, or to some other 
godly learned man, and show the trouble and doubt 
of their conscience to them, that they may receive at 
their hands the comfortable salve of God's word; but 
it is against the true Christian liberty, that any man 
should be bound to the numbering of his sins, as it 
hath been used heretofore in the time of blindness and 
ignorance."^ 

" The third part of repentance is faith, whereby we 
do apprehend and take hold upon the promises of God, 
touching the free pardon and forgiveness of our sins, 
which promises are sealed up unto us with the death 
and blood-shedding of his Son Jesus Christ. There- 
fore, they that teach repentance without a lively faith 
in our Saviour Jesus Christ, do teach none other but 
Judas's repentance, as all the schoolmen do which do 
only allow these three parts of repentance : the con- 
trition of the heart, the confession of the mouth, and 
the satisfaction of the work. But all these things we 
find in Judas's repentance, which, in outward appear- 
ance, did far exceed and pass the repentance of Peter. 
For, first and foremost, we read in the Gospel that 
Judas was so sorrowful and heavy, yea, that he was fill- 
ed with such anguish and vexation of mind for that 
which he had done, that he could not abide to live 
any longer. Did he not also, before he hanged him- 
self, make an open confession of his fault, when he 
said, I have sinned, betraying the innocent blood ? 
And verily this was a very bold confession, which 
might have brought him to great trouble ; for by 
it he did lay to the high-priests' and elders' charge 
the shedding of innocent blood, and that they were 
most abominable murderers. He did also make a 

* Oxford edition of 1802, p. 457-9. 



40 THE HOMILY ON REPENTANCE. [cHAP. III. 

certain kind of satisfaction, when he did cast their 
money unto them again. No such thing do we read 
of Peter, although he had committed a very heinous 
sin, and most grievous offense, in denying of his 
Master. We find that he went out and wept bitterly ; 
whereof Ambrose speaketh in this manner : Peter 
was sorry and vjept, because he erred as a man. I 
do not find what he said : I know that he wept. I read 
of his tears, but not of his satisfaction. But how 
chance that the one was received into favor again 
with God, and the other cast away, but because the 
one did, by a lively faith in Him whom he had de- 
nied, take hold upon the mercy of God, and the 
other wanted faith, whereby he did despair of the 
goodness and mercy of God ? Therefore, as we said 
before, they that teach repentance without Christ, 
and a lively faith in the mercy of God, do only teach 
Cain's or Judas's repentance."^ 

" The fourth is, an amendment of life, or a new life, 
in bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance ; for 
they that do truly repent must be clean altered and 
changed ; they must become new creatures ; they must 
be no more the same that they were before. And 
therefore thus said John Baptist unto the Pharisees 
and Sadducees that came unto his baptism : O gen- 
eration of vipers, who hath forewarned you to flee 
from the anger to come ? Bring forth, therefore, 
fruits worthy of repentance. Whereby we do learn 
that if we will have the wrath of God to be pacified, 
we must in no wise dissemble, but turn unto him 
again with a true and sound repentance, which may 
be known and declared by good fruits, as by most 
sure and infallible signs thereof."! 

" They that do from the bottom of their hearts ac- 

* Oxford edition of 1802, p. 459-61. t Ibid., p. 461. 



CHAP. III.] THE ENGLISH LITURGY. 41 

knowledge their sins, and are unfeignedly sorry for 
their offenses, will cast off all hypocrisy, and put on 
true humility and lowliness of heart. They will not 
only receive the Physician of the soul, but also with 
a most fervent desire long for him. They will not 
only abstain from the sins of their former life, and 
from all other filthy vices, but also flee, eschew, and 
abhor all the occasions of them. And as they did 
before give themselves to uncleanness of life, so will 
they from henceforth with all diligence give them- 
selves to innocency, pureness of life, and true godli- 
ness."^ 

Such being the doctrine of the Homilies, declared 
by the 35th Article, to be "a godly and wholesome 
doctrine," and therefore having the formal sanction 
of the Church of England, I proceed next to the rec- 
ognition of the subject of repentance and confession 
in her Liturgy. 

The Morning Prayer opens with an exhortation to 
repentance and confession ; and the General Confes- 
sion, by minister and people, immediately follows, 
which is succeeded by a sentence of Absolution in 
the declaratory form, pronounced by the priest alone, 
standing. Here it is manifest that the principle 
laid down in the Homily is the only one apparent. 
The act of repentance and confession is addressed to 
God. The Absolution refers to the judgment of 
God, and the people are solemnly assured that " He 
pardons and absolves all those who truly repent and 
unfeignedly believe his holy GospeW 

The next recurrence of the subject is in the Office 
for the Celebration of the Eucharist, or Holy Com- 
munion. Here there is another humble and deep 
confession to the Almighty, offered, as before, by priest 

* Oxford edition of 1802, p. 461. 



42 VISITATION OFFICE. [CHAP. III. 

and people ; and the absolution which follows, deliv- 
ered by the priest alone, is in the form of prayer. 
In this likewise, therefore, there is a strict adherence 
to the principles of the Homily. 

But there are two other portions of the English 
Prayer Book in which the private and specific con- 
fession of sins to the priest is mentioned, in connec- 
tion with an individual application of sacerdotal ab- 
solution, borrowed from the Church of Rome ; and 
these will demand a more particular examination. 

The first passage occurs in the Exhortation pre- 
paratory to the Holy Communion at the close, the 
words being addressed to the communicants by the 
minister as follows : 

" And because it is requisite that no man should 
come to the Holy Communion but with a full trust 
in God's mercy and with a quiet conscience, there- 
fore, if there be any of you who by this means can 
not quiet his own conscience, but requireth further 
comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some 
other discreet and learned minister of God's Word, 
and open his grief; that by the ministry of God's 
holy Word he may receive the benefit of absolution, 
together with ghostly comfort and advice, to the qui- 
eting of his conscience, and avoiding of all scruple 
and doubtfulness." 

The second example occurs in the Office for the 
Visitation of the Sick, where we have the following 
rubric : 

" Here shall the sick person be moved to make a 
special confession of his sins, if he feel his con- 
science troubled with any weighty matter. After 
which confession, the Priest shall absolve him, if he 
humbly and heartily desire it, after this sort :" 

" Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to 



CHAP. III.] POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. 43 

his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent 
and believe in Him, of his great mercy forgive thee 
thine offenses ; and by his authority committed to 
me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
Amen." 

In these two places, therefore, the Church of En- 
gland authorizes her priests to receive private confes- 
sion, and to administer the sentence of absolution in 
language borrowed from the Church of Rome. Not- 
withstanding this apparent token of agreement, how- 
ever, the differences which distinguish the doctrine of 
the Churches are so numerous and important, that it 
is totally impossible for any candid reasoner to con- 
found them with each other. 

For, 1. The Church of Rome places penance, in- 
cluding auricular confession to the priest, and private 
sacerdotal absolution, on the list of the sacraments 
necessary to salvation. 

2. She exacts auricular confession and priestly 
absolution as an indispensable preliminary to the re- 
ception of the Eucharist. 

3. She excommunicates those who neglect to com- 
ply with these requirements at least once in every 
year, immediately before the festival of Easter. 

4. She imposes penance, by way of satisfaction to 
the justice of God, at the dictation of the priest, in 
this secret tribunal. J 

5. She requires secrecy, not only from the priest, 
but also from the penitent, so that if the priest should 
err, the penitent has no remedy. 

6. She demands a full confession to the priest of 
all mortal sins without exception, without which the 
penitent not only receives no absolution, but even in- 
creases his guilt. 



44 POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. [CHAP. III. 

7. She insists upon a disclosure of all mortal sins 
of the thoughts, although they may never have been 
formed into word or action. 

8. She commands her priests to question the pen- 
itent on matters which he has not mentioned, but 
prefers to conceal. 

9. She directs her priests to make their inquisition 
particularly into subjects connected with what she 
calls the ninth and tenth commandments (dividing 
the tenth commandment into two) ; that is to say, 
into the special department of carnal desires and 
thoughts of lasciviousness. 

10. She begins her work of the confessional with 
young children, before they are admitted to the com- 
munion. 

11. She teaches that sins are forgiven by the 
priestly act of absolution, without true contrition, re- 
quiring what the Council of Trent calls attrition only. 

12. She requires the penitent in the act of confes- 
sion, to " cast himself down at the feet of the priest," 
as the very representative of the Redeemer. 

13. She maintains that the voice of the priest is 
to be heard as that of Christ himself, who said to the 
lame man, « Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be for- 
given thee." 

14. She requires that the works of satisfaction 
which the penitent is to perform at the dictation of 
the priest, should be " painful and laborious ;" and in 
the list of those works of penance she expressly places 
" prayer and alms-deeds." 

15. She teaches not only that the sinner may sat- 
isfy divine justice for his own sins, but that satisfac- 
tion may be performed by one for another. 

Now here I have specified fifteen points of strong 
distinction, and even contrast, between the Church of 



CHAP. III.] POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. 45 

Rome and the Church of England, to show how little 
can be justly inferred from the single fact that the 
use of private confession and absolution under cer- 
tain peculiar circumstances, is allowed, though not en- 
joined by the latter. And, in order to illustrate the 
difference more clearly, I shall next briefly exhibit the 
doctrine of our mother Church on each of these par- 
ticulars. 

1. The Church of England, instead of reckoning 
penance among the sacraments, expressly denies the 
Roman doctrine in her 25th Article as well as in her 
catechism. 

2. Instead of requiring auricular confession and pri- 
vate absolution as a necessary prerequisite to the Eu- 
charist, she only demands confession to God, and a 
prayer for absolution from Him who is the searcher 
of hearts and can alone know the sincerity of each 
worshiper's repentance. 

3. Instead of excommunicating those who do not 
submit to auricular confession at least once a year, 
she leaves it entirely free to each man's discretion. 

4. Instead of requiring her priests to impose works 
of penance by way of satisfaction, she does not au- 
thorize them to impose such works at all. 

5. Instead of demanding secrecy from the penitent 
with regard to the transactions of the confessional, 
by which contrivance the Church of Rome effectu- 
ally prevents the possibility of correcting the errors 
and mistakes of her priesthood, the Church of En- 
gland lays her injunction of secrecy only on the priest, 
and even this with an important exception. For the 
following passage from the concluding clause of her 
113th canon contains her rule upon this part of the 
subject : 

"Provided always, that if any man confess his se- 



46 POINTS OP DIFFERENCE. [cHAP. III. 

cret and hidden sins to the minister, for the unburden- 
ing of his conscience, and to receive spiritual conso- 
lation and aid from him, we do straitly charge and ad- 
monish him that he do not at any time reveal or make 
known to any person whatsoever any crime or offense 
so committed to his trust and secrecy (except they be 
such crimes as by the laws of this realm his own life 
may be called into question for concealing the same), 
under pain of irregularity." 

This is the fair rule of confidence which the uni- 
versal principles of legal justice recognize and apply, 
not only to the ministers of religion, but to attorneys, 
advocates, and physicians ; since it is plainly a breach 
of trust to betray the secret of him who only commu- 
nicates the fact because he places full reliance on the 
good faith of his adviser. But there is no propriety 
whatever in extending such a rule beyond the pro- 
tection necessary for the party who requires it. There- 
fore, if the penitent in the Church of England has rea- 
son to doubt the soundness of the minister after he 
has privately consulted him, there is full liberty al- 
lowed for recourse to another, or to the bishop ; and 
thus the error of the priest may be discovered and 
corrected. While the Roman Church, on the contra- 
ry, binds the penitent implicitly and absolutely to the 
dictates of the priest ; and whether those dictates be 
right or wrong, he has no possible appeal. 

6. Instead of demanding a full confession to the 
priest of all mortal sins, the Church of England only 
speaks of such sins as the penitent finds troubling his 
conscience ; and what these are, she leaves entirely to 
his own self-examination. 

7. Instead of insisting upon a full revelation of 
even sinful thoughts, she speaks only of sins in their 
usual acceptation, where the inward thought is adopt- 
ed by the will, or expressed in word or action. 



CHAP. III.] POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. 47 

8. Instead of charging the priest to act as an inquis- 
itor into matters which the penitent has no intention 
to reveal, she only allows him to hear a perfectly 
free and voluntary confession. 

9. Instead of positively directing the priest to make 
special inquiries into the subjects mentioned in the 
Tenth Commandment, she authorizes no irreverent 
culling and choosing of particular topics in the laws 
of God, and would avoid, rather than order, the dis- 
cussion between the clergy and the female members 
of their flock, of thoughts connected with immodesty 
and licentiousness. 

10. Instead of bringing young children to the pri- 
vate confessional of the priest at an age when they 
can not be expected to be fully aware of their respons- 
ibility, although they may be " able to discern good 
from evil, and be capable of malice," the Church of 
England only authorizes it in the case of communi- 
cants, and even then she limits it to those who feel 
their consciences troubled and desire the counsel of 
their pastors under the burden of special sins. 

11. Instead of teaching that sins are pardoned by 
the priestly act of absolution, without the perfect con- 
trition of the penitent, the Church of England holds 
the very contrary, on the express warrant of the Word 
of God. • 

12. Instead of commanding the penitent to cast 
himself down at the feet of the priest as the very 
representative of the Saviour, she remembers the con- 
duct of St. Peter, who, inspired apostle as he was, 
forbade Cornelius to render him such homage, say- 
ing, " Stand up, for I also am a man." 

13. Instead of directing the penitent to hear the 
voice of the confessor, as " if it were the voice of 
Christ himself," thus investing every priest with vir- 



48 POINTS OF DIFFERENCE. [CHAP. III. 

tual infallibility, she teaches that even the Church 
may not arrogate this attribute of her Divine Head, 
and ascribes no infallibility to the voice of man, un- 
less it be guided by celestial inspiration. 

14. Instead of commanding the priest to enjoin, 
and the penitent to perform " painful and laborious" 
works of penance, and expressly reckoning " prayer 
and alms deeds" among those works of penance, she 
condemns the idea as unscriptural and absurd, and 
teaches that prayer and alms deeds should be per- 
formed, not as a painful and laborious penance, but 
as duties and privileges, in which the holiest men 
experience the purest spiritual enjoyment. 

15. Instead of teaching that works of satisfaction 
to the justice of God can be performed by one Chris- 
tian for another, she repudiates the doctrine as an 
impiety, dishonorable to the sole office of Christ, and 
only upheld by the Roman Church on account of its 
connection with their perilous system of Purgatory. 

Thus much may suffice for the present, to show 
how utterly variant is the allowance of voluntary 
auricular confession, as retained by the Church of 
England, with the enforced and compulsory exactions 
of the Church of Rome, notwithstanding the efforts 
of some of their writers to persuade the world that 
they are substantially the same. I am obliged, nev- 
ertheless, in candor, to acknowledge my regret that 
our Mother Church, whose authority I love and ven- 
erate, should have appeared to sanction the doctrine 
of Rome by even the semblance of conformity. Her 
offspring, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
United States, has wisely omitted every trace of this 
abuse, and I rejoice that she has done so. But the 
further elucidation of this discrepancy must be post- 
poned until I have gone over the evidence of the 



CHAP. IV.] TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE. 49 

Scriptures, the fathers, and the Councils, when I hope 
to make it abundantly manifest that we are com- 
pletely justified by every proof which deserves the 
name of divine and apostolical 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 

Every theologian is familiar with the name and 
labors of the celebrated Pagnini, born A.D. 1466, a 
Dominican friar of great attainments in classic and 
Oriental literature, who spent twenty-five years, under 
the patronage of Pope Leo X. , in translating the Scrip- 
tures. His work was adopted and revised by the fa- 
mous Arias Montanus, a Spanish Benedictine monk, 
one of the Council of Trent, ranked among the most 
learned divines of the sixteenth century, and employed, 
after his return from the Council, in editing the mag- 
nificent Polyglot Bible, in eight volumes, called some- 
times the Royal Polyglot, because it was executed 
at the cost of Philip II., king of Spain, and sometimes 
the Antwerp Polyglot, from the place where it was 
printed. From this version of Arias Montanus I shall 
exhibit, in a tabular form, some of the errors of the 
Latin Vulgate and the far greater errors of the En- 
glish Doway Bible, referring also to the original He- 
brew and Greek, so that the reader may have the 
whole truth plainly spread before" him. After the 
meaning of the words of Scripture is ascertained, it 
will be easier to see the doctrine which they inculcate ; 
and, in order to do justice to the subject, I shall be- 
gin with Genesis and end with the Apocalypse. 
C 



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CHAP. IV.] UPON REPENTANCE. 51 



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52 MEANING OF THE HEBREW. [CHAP. IV. 

Now here I have collated forty-two examples, six- 
teen from the Old Testament, and twenty-six from 
the New, in proof of my assertion ; and no human in- 
genuity can avoid the conclusion that the English 
Romanists have shamefully wrested the Word of God 
in order to gain the semblance of its authority in fa- 
vor of their doctrine. To understand, however, the 
full force of this grave accusation, let us consider the 
strict meaning of the scriptural terms. 

1. In the first place, then, I would observe that the 
word on: in the Hebrew properly signifies to change 
the mind ; and it does not always express a change 
accompanied by sorrow, since in more than a hund- 
red places it is used to signify consolation, or a change 
of mind from sorroiv to joy. This sense is marked 
by an alteration in the Masoretic points, but in the 
Hebrew Testament without points it can only be gath- 
ered from the context. A few examples may be spec- 
ified in proof of the assertion. 

Thus, in Gen., xxiv., 67, we read as follows in the 
Doway version : " And he (Isaac) loved her so well" 
(Rebeccah), " that it moderated the sorrow which 
was occasioned by his mother's death." The He- 
brew words in this passage are pny? on3M, and Arias 
Montanus correctly translates them " consolatus est 
se IschacP 

Again, in Gen., xxxviii., 12, " And when he" (Ju- 
da) " had taken comfort in his mourning." The He- 
brew is, rnirr onri, which Montanus translates " et 
consolatus est se JehudahP 

Again, in Ruth, ii., 13, "J have found grace in 
thy eyes, my lord, who hast comforted meP The 
Hebrew is, ^npru '3, which Montanus translates 
" quia consolatus es meP 

Again, in 2 Kings, or, as we usually call it, 2 Sam- 



CHAP. IV.] MEANING OF THE HEBREW. 53 

uel, xiii., 38, " he" (David) "was comforted concern- 
ing the death of Amnon." The Hebrew is the same 
word, on:, meaning, according to Montanus, "conso- 
latus fuerat" 

Again, in Isaiah, i., 24, "I will comfort myself 
over my adversaries." In the Hebrew, nmx, anc [ i n 
the Latin of Montanus, " consolabor de hostibus 
meis." 

A long list might be added from any good Hebrew 
Concordance to show conclusively that the word in it- 
self imports a change of mind. Whether this change 
be accompanied by sorrow or not, depends on the sub- 
ject-matter. Therefore our best Hebrew critics say 
that the term " hath two significations : 1. Consolari 
se vel alium. 2. Poenitere, Quce duo signijicata con- 
juncta sunt. This word signifieth a change of mind, 
either with respect to purposes, actions, or pursuits, 
when we dislike them, and turn our thoughts another 
way, that is, to repent ; or with respect to sorrow and 
grief when they are abated, that is, to comfort" With 
regard to this latter signification, there is no contro- 
versy ; but with respect to the other, it is worthy of 
serious attention that the term is applied to the Deity. 
Now it is quite manifest that the Almighty could not 
be said to repent in any other sense than that which 
imports a change of mind, or a change of purpose. 
And hence the Latin Vulgate could not translate 
those passages which referred to the Most High, by 
its agere poenitentiam ; and the Doway Bible, if it 
had applied to the character of God the phrase of do- 
ing penance, would have fallen into an error which 
must have been universally rebuked as not only utter- 
ly absurd, but absolutely blasphemous. What right, 
nevertheless, had their translators to employ tivo forms 
of expression where the Holy Spirit had chosen to use 



54 MEANING OF THE HEBREW. [CHAP. IV. 

one and the same ? If the wisdom of the All- wise Cre- 
ator and Redeemer selected a term which He thought 
fit to apply both to Himself and to His people, where 
did the Roman Church find her authority for casting 
that term aside and substituting another which in- 
volves a perfectly distinct rule of ecclesiastical disci- 
pline ? Manifestly it was the duty of their interpret- 
ers to have followed faithfully in the track of inspira- 
tion. When they had adopted the words Repent and 
Repentance as coming nearest to the original, they 
should have retained them throughout. In employ- 
ing the other meaning of Comfort or Consolation, 
they were justified not only by the vowel points, but 
by the high respect due to the Septuagint version. 
But in altering repentance into doing penance, at 
their own discretion, without any sanction whatever, 
they have presented to the world an erroneous com- 
mentary instead of a translation. 

2. We find, secondly, that the word jtteravoew in 
the Greek text of the New Testament, likewise im- 
ports a change of mind, which is perfectly apparent 
from its etymology ; and this is granted by the au- 
thors of the Catechism of Trent. The various senses 
of the term are set down in this order by lexicogra- 
phers : " To understand afterward — to be wise after- 
ward — to change the opinion or mind — to repent 
— to regret — to reform." But nowhere do I find 
it signifying To do penance. So the other term which 
is occasionally employed instead of it, \L£,Ta\ii\o\iai, 
is rendered, " To be sorry for — to regret — to re- 
pent." To prove the general meaning of these words, 
it may be as well to refer to a few examples in the 
New Testament, where they occur entirely uncon- 
nected with any religious sorrow on account of sin. 
Thus, in Matt., xxvii., 3, the traitor Judas is said to 



CHAP. IV. j MEANING OF THE GREEK. 55 

be fieTafietoideis, which the Latin Vulgate renders pos- 
nitentia ductus, and the Doway Bible "repenting him- 
self." Here, therefore, repentance means a change of 
mind. True, indeed, it was accompanied by anguish , 
and the wretched man was conscious of his sin, be- 
cause he immediately confesses his trangression, say- 
ing, " I have sinned in betraying innocent blood." 
But it is certain that Judas felt no true religious sor- 
row, since it was not accompanied by faith, and as 
it was immediately followed by suicide, it must have 
been rather the agony of remorse and desperation. 

A much plainer instance, however, occurs in the 
11th chapter and 29th verse of St. Paul's Epistle to 
the Romans, where the apostle saith : AfieT afieXrjra 
yap rd %apio\iara^ aal r\ {cXrjotg rov Qeov, which the Latin 
Vulgate renders, Sine paenitentia enim sunt dona 
et vocatio Dei, and the Doway Bible translates, 
" For the gifts and calling of God are without re- 
pentance." Here the word repentance conveys only 
the idea of a change of mind or purpose on the part 
of the Deity, the same precisely which is intended by 
the Hebrew term translated repent, where the Lord 
is said to have repented that He had made man, &c. 
Of course it has no relation to sin, nor to sorrow on 
account of sin, neither of which could, without blas- 
phemy, be imputed to the Almighty. 

A third example appears in 2 Cor., vii., 8, which 
the Doway version gives as follows : " For although 
I made you sorrowful by my epistle, I do not repent, 
and if I did repent, seeing that the same epistle (al- 
though but for a time) did make you sorrowful, now 
I am glad, not because you were made sorrowful, 
but because you were made sorrowful unto penance." 
The Greek word for " repent " is fierafieXo^aL and for 
" penance" fierdvoLav. But the Latin Vulgate deals 



56 MEANING OF THE GREEK. [cHAP. IV. 

more fairly by the original : Quoniam etsi contris- 
tavi vos in epistola, non me pcenitet ; etsi pceniteret, 
videns quod epistola ilia (etsi, ad horani) vos contris- 
tavit ; nunc gaudeo, non quia contristati estis, sed 
quia contristati estis ad pcenitentiam. I shall not 
pause now, however, to notice the intrusion of the 
favorite Roman dogma into the passage. But I have 
quoted it as another proof of repentance signifying a 
change of mind unconnected with sin, since it is im- 
possible to suppose that the apostle could have thought 
he had sinned by writing his first epistle. 

One example more may be added, from Heb., xii., 
17, where St. Paul, speaking of Esau, saith, iletcl- 
voiag yap ronov bv% svpe. The Latin Vulgate renders 
it non enim invenit pamitentice locum, and the Doway 
version correctly translates it, " for he found no place 
of repentance." Here it is universally understood 
that the repentance is to be referred, not to Esau, 
but to his father Isaac, whose mind he sought to 
change with tears, when he heard that his younger 
brother Jacob had received the blessing of the first- 
born. And therefore it furnishes another instance 
where the word repentance is used, even in the New 
Testament, in its simple meaning of " a change of 
mind or purpose." 

The primary element, therefore, of the word, con- 
sists in this change of the mind, including, when man 
is its subject, a correspondent change of the heart, or 
the affections. And hence when used in reference to 
our fallen race, as the subjects of the Gospel dispen- 
sation, it involves, of necessity, a turning from sin to 
holiness, an abhorrence of iniquity, and a sorrow or 
contrition on account of it, an humble confession of 
our transgressions to that merciful God whom we 
have offended, as well as to such of our fellows as we 



CHAP. IV.] ERRORS OF THE DOWAY VERSION. 57 

may have injured by our sins, and a steadfast resolu- 
tion to forsake and utterly abandon our wickedness ; 
all connected with faith in the atoning sacrifice of 
Christ, and in the gracious promises of His love and 
mercy. The reformation of the life follows, as the 
appropriate fruits of repentance, and it is the only 
test by which we can know that our repentance is 
sincere. 

All this applies directly to the Latin word pceni- 
tentia ; but in no respect can it be said to correspond 
to the English word penance, because this signifies, 
as every Romanist is perfectly aware, " an infliction, 
either public or private, suffered as an expression of 
repentance for sin." This is not only the definition 
of our lexicographers, and the received meaning of the 
term among all the writers of our language, but it even 
enters into the definition of the note on Matt., iii., 2, 
in their Doway Bible. " Do penance. Pcenitentiam 
agite, iieravohre. Which word, according to the use 
of the Scriptures and the holy fathers, does not only 
signify repentance and amendment of life, but also 
punishing past sins by fasting, and such like peniten- 
tial exercises." In truth, however, such is the con- 
fined meaning of the word penance, that it applies 
only to this last ; and this, too, according to the Ro- 
man theory, possesses no value, unless it be dictated 
by the priest, and fulfilled in strict compliance with 
his directions. And yet we may search the Bible in 
vain for an example of penance, either ordered by a 
priest, or performed as a satisfaction to divine justioe. 

The Doway translators would have had no possible 
excuse for introducing their favorite penance into a 
connection with the Bible, if the Latin Vulgate, in 
common with many of the fathers, had not adopted 
the ambiguous phrase agere pcenitentiam. And yet 

C 2 



58 ERRORS OF THE DOWAY VERSION. [cHAP. IV. 

this phrase does not, of itself, amount to a shadow of 
justification. For, as they well know, the verb ago 
often refers to the mind, and the noun poenitentiam 
answers strictly to our word repentance. Among the 
meanings of the verb agere, we have not only, To 
drive — to do — to act, &c, but likewise, To mind or 
observe — to take care of — to live — to exercise — to 
endeavor. And therefore the phrase Agere pceni- 
tentiam would have been properly translated To ex- 
ercise repentance. Instead of which, their scholars 
were so determined to make the Scriptures speak ac- 
cording to the standard of Trent, that agere must 
mean To do, and poenitentia must mean Penance, 
notwithstanding the fact that in many passages they 
were forced to abandon their favorite version, and em- 
ploy the right words, repentance and repent, in order 
to avoid a manifest absurdity. 

If further proof be required that the true meaning 
of poenitentia is not penance, any of our English and 
Latin Lexicons may at once determine the question. 
Take the following extract from our college stand- 
ards : 

"Penance: 1. Poena ; 2. Supplicium ; 3. Culpce 
expiatio. 

" To oblige one to do penance, Poenam reo dicer e, 
imponere, statuere. 

" To do penance for a fault, Culpam poena luereP 

Properly considered, therefore, penance corresponds 
to what the Church of Rome inculcates, under the 
term of satisfaction. " According to the most an- 
cient practice of the Church," saith the Catechism of 
Trent, " when penitents are absolved from their sins, 
some penance is imposed, the performance of which is 
commonly called satisfaction. Any sort of punish- 
ment endured for sin, although not imposed by the 



CHAP. IV.] ERRORS OF THE DOWAY VERSION. 59 

priest, but spontaneously undertaken by the sinner, 
is also called by the same name. It belongs not, how- 
ever, to penance, considered as a sacrament; the sat- 
isfaction which constitutes part of the sacrament, as 
we have already said, is that which is imposed by the 
priest." From this it is easy to divine the motive 
which induced the translators of the Doway Bible to 
use their favorite phrase, " do penance," instead of the 
true meaning of the Greek fieravoeiTs, " repent," or, 
according to the Latin Vulgate, " exercise repent- 
ance ;" for the readers of that version can form no 
other idea of " doing penance" except the performing 
of the penance directed by the priest, or, at furthest, 
the voluntary imposition of some painful and labori- 
ous work, undertaken as a u punishment" and " sat- 
isfaction" for their sins ; and thus the Word of God 
is made to command, in appearance, one of the most 
dangerous corruptions of their system. 

I have next to notice a still more glaring departure 
from the true meaning of Scripture, in their favorite 
text, Ezek., xviii., 21, where the Hebrew word is :»#, 
signifying "to turn away." Here their own faithful 
interpreters, Pagnini and Montanus, rightly translate 
the passage, " Cum aversus fuerit ab omnibus pec- 
catis suis ;" but their Latin Vulgate renders it, "Si 
autem egerit pcenitentiam ;" and their Doway Bible 
makes it still worse by saying, " If the wicked do 
penance for all his sins ;" and this is done in the 
face of two other texts where the Hebrew word is the 
very same, and the authors of the Latin Vulgate are 
compelled to translate it fairly. The first of these is 
in Ezek., xviii., 24, " Si autem averterit se Justus a 
justitia sua" where the Doway Bible saith, "If the 
just man turn himself aivay from his justice." The 
second instance occurs in the 27th verse, where the 



60 ERRORS OF THE DOWAY VERSION. [CHAP. IV, 

Doway Bible, following the Vulgate, correctly renders 
it, " When the wicked turneth himself aiv ay from his 
wickedness." But what apology can be offered to the 
Christian world for such inconsistency as this ? When 
the very same word, which, in two texts of the same 
chapter, is correctly translated, " to turn away," 
plainly expressing a change of character, is translat- 
ed, in the other place, a doing of penance for sins ! 

Now if we take the whole of the texts, which I have 
collated and arranged in tabular form for the satisfac- 
tion of my ministerial brethren, we shall find the fol- 
lowing statement to be the sum of the glaring dis- 
honesty of the Roman Doway version : 

In the texts taken from the Old Testament, they 
have translated the Hebrew word DHJ five times cor- 
rectly, "to repent;" twice, "to be appeased ;" once, 
" to be changed;" once, " to have mercy;" and three 
times,-," to do penance." And the other Hebrew 
word, iWi they have translated correctly twice, " to 
turn away;" once, "to be converted;" and twice, 
"to do penance." 

In the texts taken from the New Testament, they 
have translated the verb fzsravoeiv three times correct- 
ly, "to repent;" once, "to be penitent ; and thirteen 
times, " to do penance." The noun iieravoia they 
have rendered rightly twice, "repentance;" twice 
they have not translated it at all; and four times they 
have called it "penance." Whether this be a sin- 
cere rendering of the Word of God, is a question 
about which, among unprejudiced men, there can be 
but one opinion. 

Thankful, however, we ought to be that some among 
their own most eminent divines have done their utmost 
to purify the Latin Vulgate, and bring it to a nearer 
conformity with the inspired original. I have quoted 



CHAP. IV.] ERRORS OF THE DOWAY VERSION. 61 

the version of Pagnini and Montanus, in which the 
true sense of the Hebrew and the Greek is manifest 
throughout ; and it is only necessary for the merest 
tyro in Latin to compare the translations, in order to 
be convinced of the discrepancy. What would such 
men have said if the far worse version of the Doway 
Bible had been submitted to their judgment ? 

But the Church of Rome, in the Council of Trent, 
was not disposed to yieM the ground of which the 
Latin Vulgate had so long held possession. Truth 
gave way before expediency. The phrase agere poeni- 
tentiam, although it was susceptible of a correct sense, 
as signifying " to exercise repentance," was likewise 
susceptible of the more convenient sense, which tied 
repentance to the adjuncts of auricular confession, and 
works of satisfaction or penance at the dictation of the 
priest. And therefore, notwithstanding its departure 
from the original in this and many other respects, 
which it is beside my present object to particularize, 
the council, in the wantonness of its authority, estab- 
lished all its errors, and even raised the Apocrypha to 
the rank of inspiration, in the face of the best and 
highest evidence of Jewish and Christian antiquity. 

It may indeed be said that the Church of Rome 
has not set the seal of her authority to the Doway 
Bible ; and I willingly grant that this assertion inform- 
ally correct, but not substantially. That large and 
respectable portion of the Roman prelates and priest- 
hood, who use the English language in their minis- 
trations, have no other English version. The New 
Testament was translated by their English college at 
Rheims, A.D. 1582. The Old Testament was added 
by their college, then established at Douay, A.D. 1609, 
and the whole, under the name of the Doway Bible, 
has therefore constituted their only English Vulgate 



62 ENGLISH BIBLE DEFENDED. [CHAP. IV. 

for more than two centuries. From this they take 
their texts ; from this they quote their biblical proofs 
in argument ; to this they refer their people ; and 
thus it possesses all the sanction in their power. At 
least, therefore, it holds the highest rank among all 
Roman Catholics to whom the English is the vernac- 
ular tongue ; and it is not for any bishop or priest 
belonging to that extensive and important class to 
deny its authority. 

It may also be said that our own version of the 
Church of England is far from being immaculate, and 
that many of our scholars have suggested a number 
of passages in which it would admit of emendation. 
This is true, doubtless, and must always be true of 
any version, since there never has been a translation 
of any book in any language which could be, in all 
respects, acknowledged as a perfect substitute for the 
original. But it is one thing to admit the existence 
of blemishes incident to the nature of such a work, 
and quite another thing to allege a willful deviation 
in matters which belong to the integrity of Chris- 
tian doctrine. We may safely defy the world to 
specify a single error in our English Bible which af- 
fects or can possibly affect the interests of religious 
truth. And it is only because the Doway Bible is 
fairly chargeable with a systematic corruption, for the 
obvious purpose of giving a Roman aspect to the 
teaching of Christ and his apostles in a point of high 
doctrinal and practical importance, that I hold it to 
be worthy of such decided reprobation. 



CHAP. V.] SCRIPTURAL VIEW OF CONFESSION. 63 



CHAPTER V. 

THE DOCTRINE OF SACRAMENTAL CONFESSION AND ABSO- 
LUTION TESTED BY THE SCRIPTURES. 

Having shown the true meaning of the terms of 
Scripture, I now proceed to the argument in favor of 
auricular confession and priestly absolution, which 
the learned and ingenious authors of the Catechism 
of the Council of Trent have attempted to adduce 
from the Word of God in favor of their doctrine. 

I would first observe, however, that in the whole 
economy of the Levitical and ceremonial law it is 
not pretended that any trace can be found of such a 
system. Throughout the old Testament, the confes- 
sion of sin is constantly inculcated, and the examples 
of it among the chosen people are numerous and 
edifying. But it was invariably confession to God, 
followed by an acknowledgment to men, whenever 
they were conscious of having offended or injured 
them. And as to the pardon of sin, this was well 
understood to be the sole prerogative of the Almighty. 
Hence, when our Saviour said to the penitent, " Thy 
sins "be forgiven thee," He was immediately accused 
of having spoken blasphemy, on the principle so fa- 
miliar to every Israelite, " Who can forgive sins, ex- 
cept God only ?" 

That such is still the system of the Jews, is set 
forth distinctly in the learned Buxtorf's Synagoga 
Judaica^fc where he treats of the ceremonies on the 
great day of the yearly expiation as follows, viz. : 

* Chap. xxv. (p. 517, ed. of 1712). 



64 CONFESSION AMONG THE JEWS. [cHAP. V. 

» If any enmity arises among them, they come together, and 
he who did the injury ought to ask pardon of the injured party, 
which pardon the injured person ought willingly to grant, for 
so likewise God will speedily pardon his sins. If, at the first 
application, he is not willing to forgive, he who seeks forgive- 
ness may take three others with him, and beseech him a sec- 
ond and a third time ; if this fails to move him, the other party 
may take with him ten more, not of necessity, but of abundant 
diligence, and beseech him again. If the injured party then 
forgives, it is well. If otherwise, his neighbor, having discharged 
his duty, is free and safe, and has nothing to fear from his for- 
mer offense against his fellow, when he hopes for pardon from 
God. But the other, who refused to pardon, is called cruel, and 
can not expect the remission of his own sins from the Almighty. 
For it is said : On the day of atonement, the sins with which 
man has immediately offended God are remitted, according to 
Levit., xvi., 30 : In the day of atonement that He may cleanse 
you, ye shall be cleansed from all your sins before God ; that is, 
Whatever ye have sinned before God shall be expiated on that 
day, and ye shall be cleansed from it. But by no means does 
this extend to offenses between a man and his neighbor, until 
the offender has appeased his brother, and is reconciled with 
him, even if the offense consists in nothing more than irritating 
language. 

" On this day, also, they confess their sins to God, which they 
call Viddui, because this is the day of atonement, the day of the 
remission and expiation of sins, and they say that it is necessa- 
ry on this day for every one to make his confession, as we read 
in the O. T. concerning all the sacrifices which were made for 
the expiation of sins : And they shall confess the sins which they 
have committed, &c. In like manner as the high-priest also, on 
the day of atonement, makes confession for himself and for all 
Israel, as it is said, He shall make atonement for himself and for 
his house, and for all Israel: the meaning of which is, that he 
shall confess his own sins, and then the sin of Israel. 

" The form of confession is very long, and is contained in the 
books of their prayers. It is expressed in alphabetic order, so 
that every letter embraces some sin committed more gravely or 
more frequently ; to which, afterward, those who are more de- 
vout and contrite, and excel in judgment, add the special sins 
of which they are conscious, or to which they are more inclined 
and addicted by nature, asking remission of these at the same 
time from God. 



CHAP. V.] TEXTS CITED BY ROMANISTS. 65 

"If any one reads or recites this form publicly and with a 
clear voice, he is not obliged to insert in it the special enumer- 
ation of his sins ; but if he confesses privately, and with a low 
voice, he does well who numbers all the sins which he is able 
to remember, because in this way he may be the more stimu- 
lated to exercise repentance. Thus they say Moses did when, 
praying for the Israelites, he said, I beseech Thee, this people 
have sinned a great sin, for they have made to themselves gods 
of gold. 

" This confession should be made standing (to testify greater 
humility), and with a sincere and perfect heart; and they must 
often repeat it, at the least ten times on that day." — Appen- 
dix, Note 1. 

Here we see, in the settled practice of the Jewish 
people, the two species of confession mentioned by the 
Lord, and specified in our Homily, confession to God, 
and confession to man, when the Israelite was con- 
scious of having injured another. Once in every year, 
on the great day of atonement, this confession was to 
be made publicly and with a clear voice, according 
to the form set down in the Jewish Liturgy ; but if 
the penitent thought fit, he added to this a special 
confession of his sins, privately and in a low voice, 
being intended for no human ear, but addressed to the 
Deity alone, in order that the sinner might the better 
excite his feelings to exercise repentance. 

The Romanists, then, giving up the vain hope of 
proving auricular confession and priestly absolution by 
the Old Testament, rest them on the promise of our 
Lord to the Apostle Peter (Matt., xvi., 19): "I will 
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and 
whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be 
bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose 
upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven." In 
connection with this, however, they place great reli- 
ance on the parallel passage in the Gospel of St. John, 
xx ., 22, where the evangelist relates that our blessed 



66 POWER OF THE KEYS EXPLAINED. [cHAP. V. 

Redeemer breathed on his Apostles, saying, "Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, 
they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall re- 
tain, they are retained." Here the Church of Rome 
holds that the priesthood have a complete warrant for 
the whole system of compulsory auricular confession 
and sacramental absolution for the remission of sins. 
And yet it will require but a moderate degree of at- 
tention to perceive that these texts, when fairly inter- 
preted, yield them no support whatever. 

For, 1. In reference to the "keys of the kingdom 
of heaven," all interpreters agree that the kingdom of 
heaven signifies the Church of Christ on earth, since 
such is unquestionably the meaning which our Lord 
gives to the phrase in Matt., xiii., 24, 31, 33. The 
keys of the kingdom of heaven are, therefore, the keys 
of the Church in her militant state ; and as the use 
of the key is either to unlock or to fasten the door of 
the house, therefore it is obvious that the promise had 
respect to the ministerial power which the Saviour con- 
ferred upon St. Peter and his colleagues to proclaim 
the Gospel of His kingdom ; to admit into the Church, 
by the administration of baptism, those whom they 
should judge to be penitent and believing ; to exclude 
them, after they were admitted, from the communion 
of the faithful, if they proved to be unworthy ; and to 
receive them again, when it was apparent that their 
repentance was sincere. In this plain and obvious 
sense the power of the keys, as it is called, was a 
most important faculty, and has continued with the 
successors of the Apostles to this day, and will so con- 
tinue until the end of the present dispensation. 

2. But an important part of our Lord's promise to 
St. Peter may be justly applied to the extraordinary 
commission of the Apostles, and therefore it ceased 



CHAP. V.] THE APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. 67 

with them. because it could only be discharged through 
the gift of inspiration. Thus, in that important text, 
" Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be bound 
also in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon 
earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven," the reference 
is to the new arrangements of the Gospel system, in 
contradistinction from the requisitions of the Mosaic 
law. This will be apparent, when it is observed that 
our Lord saith not ivhomsoever, referring to persons, 
but whatsoever, referring to rules and regulations. 
The power here promised, therefore, consisted in the 
discontinuance of all those parts of the introductory 
dispensation which the Holy Spirit should direct the 
apostles to lay aside, thus " loosing" the bonds of 
their former obligation ; and in the establishment of 
the new sacraments, the ordinances, the discipline, 
and the worship of the Church, according to the dic- 
tates of the same Spirit of God, thus " binding" the 
precepts which they should lay down upon the con- 
sciences of all believers, on the authority of the divine 
Redeemer. It was for this part of the apostles' work 
that they were endowed with the supernatural gifts 
of tongues, and miracles, and prophecy ; for the Al- 
mighty has never changed the system of His Church 
without an open and manifest proof that those who 
introduced the change possessed His own authority. 
It was this, too, which made the apostles the minis- 
terial lawgivers of the new, as Moses had been of the 
old dispensation. But in such an office, from the very 
nature of the case, they could not have successors, 
since the Constitution of the Christian Church, once 
laid down by them in all its essential features, was 
expressly designed to be the system of all future ages, 
" even to the end of the world." 

I trust that I shall not be misapprehended in the 



68 THE APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION. [CHAP. V. 

statement of this important and even necessary dis- 
tinction, as if I would deprive the Church of all 
power of future legislation on the one hand, or of the 
apostolic succession on the other. .My meaning, if 
fairly understood, is perfectly clear of either supposed 
consequence. The apostles held a double office, one 
extraordinary, in which they could have no success- 
ors ; the other ordinary, in which it was absolutely 
necessary for the Church, in all ages, to have men in- 
vested with the same powers. For the first, they 
were qualified by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, 
to supersede the previous divine system in establish- 
ing a new one, the foundation of saving faith being, 
nevertheless, one and the same. For the second, they 
were authorized to administer the new system, as the 
chief teachers, the governors, the ordainers, and the 
judges of the Church of Christ ; and here they must 
have had successors, because the Church is always in 
the same need of officers to discharge these indispens- 
able functions. And hence it is competent to the 
Church to make, from time to time, laws and regula- 
tions, provided she does not presume to alter or en- 
large the rule of faith, or to infringe the supreme 
law of the Apostolic Constitution, but only legis- 
lates in conformity and in reverent subordination 
to that which is alone infallible, because it is alone 
divine. 

Happy would it have been for the world if the 
Church of Rome had not lost sight of this funda- 
mental distinction in the doctrine of the apostolic 
succession. But for her proud contempt of it, she 
could never have presumed to abrogate the marriage 
of the clergy ; to take away the cup from the laity ; 
to make the Virgin Mary a mediatrix, no less neces- 
sary than Christ ; to canonize the saints and create 



CHAP. V.] GRIEVOUS ERRORS OF ROME. 69 

new objects for the prayers of the faithful ; to invent 
a purgatory ; to extend the imaginary power of her 
priesthood beyond the grave ; and, among the rest, to 
devise the yoke of auricular confession and secret sac- 
erdotal absolution for the souls of men. Claiming 
the prerogatives of inspiration without being inspired 
— assuming an authority greater than that of the 
apostles, without a single one of their extraordinary 
gifts to warrant the assumption — their prelates have 
incurred a responsibility before God and man, from 
which those holy men and their faithful and consist- 
ent successors would have shrunk with horror and 
dismay. 

But let me return from this digression. The pas- 
sage from the Gospel of St. John, ch. xx., v. 22, is 
the only remaining proof on which the ingenious au- 
thors of the Catechism of Trent rely for the scrip- 
tural warrant of their system. There we read that 
the Saviour breathed on the apostles, and said, " Re- 
ceive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose sins you shall forgive, 
they are forgiven them ; and whose sins you shall re- 
tain, they are retained." I have given this text in 
the words of the Doway version, although they might 
have been more strictly translated, " whose sins ye 
shall remit, they are remitted unto them." Their own 
Latin Vulgate renders it thus, " Quorum remiseritis 
peccata, remittuntur eis." And this is in precise ac- 
cordance with the Greek original, "Av nvcov dcprjre 
rag afxapriag^ acpievrai dvrolg. The exact rendering 
of the verb is of importance here, because it stands 
in such perfect agreement with the mode in which 
the apostles executed their high commission. 

For this is the great question. We deny not the 
full import of the solemn words of Christ. That in 
some manner, by some systematic administration, the 



70 POWER OF THE KEYS. [CHAP. V. 

apostles were indeed the appointed instruments of 
their divine Master to impart to every penitent be- 
liever the remission of sins, is beyond all controversy. 
How, then, did they perform their work ? Let the 
invaluable record of their own course answer the in- 
quiry, and then we shall be sure that we can not err 
in our conclusion. 

But before I refer to the decisive practical proof 
of apostolic construction, there is another passage 
which the Roman Catechism does not quote, although 
it belongs of right to the whole scriptural view of 
this deeply important subject. It is that sublime end 
of the Gospel of St. Matthew, where we read that 
Jesus came and spoke to his apostles, saying, " All 
power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Go 
ye, therefore, and teach all nations ; baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you : and behold, I 
am with you all days, even to the consummation of 
the world." 

Here, then, we have all the parts of the apostolic 
commission brought together. And it is impossible 
to deny that those holy men, being filled with the 
Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost, were thorough- 
ly aware of the nature of their duty, and prepared to 
discharge it in accordance with its true meaning. 
Let us look, therefore, to the record. The sacred his- 
torian informs us that St. Peter took the lead in the 
mighty work. He first preached the Gospel of Christ 
to the assembled multitude, and when they were con- 
victed in their consciences (compuncti in corde}, " they 
said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, What shall 
we do, men and brethren ? And Peter said unto 
them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in 



CHAP. V.] POWER OF THE KEYS. 71 

the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your 
sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." 
And "they that received his word were baptized, and 
there were added to them in that day three thousand 
souls." The original Greek in this passage exhibits 
the most accurate correspondence with the language 
of the Saviour in St. John's Gospel : "Whose sins you 
shall remit" saith Christ, " they are remitted to them." 
How was this to be done ? " Repent, and be baptized 
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins" 
(kg d(psoLv afiapTitiv}, saith the inspired apostle, in the 
very act of executing his commission. From the verb 
\^iri\ii, to remit, is derived the noun 'Afeoig, signi- 
fying remission, and therefore we have here the direct 
construction placed upon the promise of the Saviour 
by the apostles themselves, proving, beyond the reach 
of cavil, that in the sacrament of baptism, all such 
as were sincere, penitent believers did truly receive, 

THROUGH THE MERCY AND GRACE OF CHRIST, THE RE- 
MISSION OF SINS. 

That this blessed privilege stands in connection 
with baptism, is further proved by the language of 
St. Paul, Acts, xxii., 16, " Rise up and be baptized, 
and wash away thy sins." And again, in Tit., iii., 5, 
where he saith, "According to his mercy he saved us 
by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the 
Holy Ghost." And, indeed, the extraordinary im- 
portance of the Sacrament of Baptism, in standing 
thus connected with the remission of sins, might have 
been anticipated from the express words of the Sav- 
iour, where he saith, Mark, xvi., 16, " He that be- 
lieveth and is baptized, shall be saved ;" and in the 
Gospel of St. John, iii., 5, " Except a man be born 
of water and the Holy Ghost, he can not enter into 
the kingdom of God." 



72 POWER OF THE KEYS. [cHAP. V. 

In preaching the Gospel, therefore, in receiving 
those whom they judged to be penitent and believing, 
and in administering to them the Sacrament of Bap- 
tism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost, the apostles discharged, thus far, 
the high commission for which they were appointed. 
Here was the solemn act by which the sinner openly 
renounced the pomps and vanity of the world, the sin- 
ful desires of the flesh, and the service of Satan ; by 
which he professed his faith in Christ, and promised 
obedience to His commandments. And hence it was 
in baptism that his sins were remitted, because he 
was now made a party to the covenant of grace, ad- 
mitted to the fellowship of the apostles, to the gifts 
of the Spirit, to the Church, the body of Christ, and 
to all its inestimable privileges. "When the apostles 
received the candidate to the blessings of the Gospel, 
they used the keys in opening the door of the Church 
— the kingdom of heaven, and, ministerially, " remit- 
ted" his sins. When they refused to receive him, 
because they judged him to be lacking in repentance 
and faith, they "retained" his sins by declaring that 
he was unfit to have them washed away. And all that 
they did or refused to do, in either case, was ratified 
and confirmed by their divine Master in heaven. 

We next learn, from the same record of their acts 
and their epistles, the subsequent exercise of discipline 
connected with their commission. They pronounced 
the sentence of ecclesiastical judgment upon those 
that proved unfaithful, immoral, or unruly. They sus- 
pended the guilty from the communion of the Church ; 
they cast them out as breakers of the covenant, closed 
the door against them, and thus thrust them back to 
Satan, whose servants they had been before, and whose 
service they showed, by their lives, that they did not 



CHAP. V.] POWER OF THE KEYS. 73 

choose to abandon. And after all this had been done, 
if the excluded parties were brought to true repent- 
ance, and there was good reason to believe that they 
were thoroughly converted and reformed, the apostles 
received them back again to their former privileges, 
as we read in the case of the incestuous Corinthian. 
Thus we see the complete administration of the Church 
of Christ, the kingdom of heaven upon earth, com- 
mitted to their hands. And for the whole solemn 
and responsible work they received the Holy Ghost 
from their divine Master, without whose spiritual in- 
fluence and aid they must have labored wholly in vain. 
Now the Church of Rome (fees not formally deny 
any part of this interpretation, and it is manifest 
that nothing beyond it is necessary for the accom- 
plishment of the promises of Christ How, then, can 
they pretend for a moment that those promises can 
not have been fulfilled, unless auricular confession 
and private priestly absolution be added to the list of 
the apostles' functions ? Where is the slightest in- 
timation of such a rule in the Acts or the Epistles ? 
And yet their Catechism of Trent declares that "no 
one can be ignorant of the paramount necessity of 
the Sacrament of Penance," and that " its exposition 
demands an accuracy superior to that of baptism." 
But if this were true, how can they account for the 
fact that not one sentence is recorded concerning its 
administration in all that the inspired teachers of the 
Church have written ? Can they conceive it possi- 
ble that the Spirit of God would have dictated so 
much more than what was strictly essential to a sav- 
ing faith, and yet have omitted this subject of "par- 
amount necessity ?" Can they really think that " its 
exposition demands an accuracy superior to that of 
baptism" and yet suppose that the Scriptures of di- 

D 



74 DOWAY COMMENTARY [CHAP. V. 

vine truth, which contain so much concerning baptism, 
would yet omit all mention of another sacrament 
which required to be expounded with even " superior 
accuracy ?" 

But their claim to the authority of the Scriptures 
is disproved by more than even this conclusive nega- 
tive testimony. There are two passages which seem 
to condemn it by a positive contradiction. Thus the 
Apostle Paul, in his First Epistle to Timothy, chapter 
v., verse 20, lays down this law for the episcopal of- 
fice : " Them that sin, reprove before all, that the 
rest also may have fear." Here is a plain rule that 
sinners should be rebuked in the presence of their 
brethren. And how can such a rule be reconciled 
with the doctrine of private confession and private 
absolution, under strict injunctions to secrecy ? If 
their imaginary sacrament of penance had then been 
in existence, is it not manifest that the apostle would 
have qualified the precept by saying, " Those who 
sin publicly, reprove before all ?" Or that he would 
at least have alluded to the private confessional as an 
exception to the rule ? 

The other passage is in the Epistle of St. James, 
ch. v., v. 16, where we read, " Confess your sins one 
to another, and pray one for another that you may be 
healed." And here I can not but admire the boldness 
of their Doway commentators, who say in a note, 
" That is, to the priests of the Church, whom, verse 
14, he had ordered to be called for and brought in to 
the sick ; moreover, to confess to persons who had no 
power to forgive sins, would be useless. Hence the 
precept here means that we must confess to men 
whom God hath appointed, and who, by their ordina- 
tion and jurisdiction, have received the power of re- 
mitting sins in his name." 



CHAP. V.] DISPROVED BY SCRIPTURE. 75 

Now that this is a most unwarrantable gloss upon 
the passage, is apparent from the context ; for the 
14th verse reads as follows : " Is any man sick among 
you ? let him bring in the elders of the Church" 
(not "priests" in the Roman sense, for the Greek is 
Ttpeo6v-Ep8S) and their own Latin Vulgate is not sa- 
cer dotes, but presbyter os), "and let them pray over 
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and 
the Lord shall raise him up, and if he have commit- 
ted sins" (et si pec cat a fuerit perpetratus, according 
to Montanus), "they shall be forgiven him." 

It is true, indeed, that the next verse is connected 
with the subject by an unwarrantable addition in the 
Vulgate and the Doway version : " Confess, therefore, 
your sins one to another." But this word therefore 
is not in the Greek : 'Et-opoXoyeLode dXXrjXoig rd na- 
paTTTGjpara, which Montanus fairly renders Confitemini 
alii aliis offensiones. That it is not, however, a con- 
tinuation of the 14th verse, but the introduction of a 
new tobic, is perfectly plain from the change of per- 
son and number, as well as from the order of the apos- 
tle's statements. Thus the previous verse is in the 
third person and the singular number. " Is any man 
sick ? let him" &c. The next verse is in the second 
person and in the plural: " Confess your sins one 
to another," &c. The order of the subject proves 
the same thing ; for it is manifest that if the apos- 
tle had intended to inculcate the notion which the 
Doway commentators have so audaciously put in his 
mouth, he never could have stated that " the prayer 
of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise 
him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be 
forgiven him," without attending to the confession 
and the absolution which, according to their system, 



76 DOWAY COMMENTARY [CHAP. V, 

must have preceded the forgiveness of sin. The 
omission of confession to the priest, in the order to 
which it belongs in their theology, is the more strik- 
ing, from the fact that the subject of confession is in- 
troduced immediately afterward under a totally dif- 
ferent aspect : " Confess your sins one to another ;" 
since this proves conclusively that it was not forgot- 
ten by the apostle when he wrote the previous verse, 
but by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost he was led 
to record it in such a form as is absolutely fatal to 
their doctrine. 

For now, when the case of the sick believer is 
brought to a full conclusion, St. James inculcates 
confession to man in the direct terms which exclude 
their sacramental theory altogether. " Confess your 
sins," not to the priest, but "to one another, and pray 
for one another, that you may be healed, for the con- 
tinual prayer of a righteous man availeth much." And 
then the apostle proceeds to illustrate the efficacy, not 
of priestly absolution, but of prayer, by referring to 
the condescension of God in connecting His wondrous 
works with the prayers of Elias. It is impossible to 
conceive of a more decisive proof than this, that their 
whole peculiar doctrine is utterly at variance with 
the teaching of the apostles. 

I would next observe to what strange extrava- 
gance these commentators are ready to have recourse 
when they are determined to foist their favorite dog- 
mas on the Bible ; for they are not ashamed to say, 
in the note which I have quoted, " Moreover, to con- 
fess to persons who had no power to forgive sins, 
would be useless ;" and this they tell us in the very 
face of St. James's declaration, that " the prayer of a 
righteous man availeth much." Not only, however, 
do they here oppose the apostle, but expressly contra- 
dict several other passages of Scripture. Thus, in 



CHAP. V.] DISPROVED BY SCRIPTURE. 77 

Matt., ch. v., v. 23, we read the precept of Christ, 
" Therefore, if thou ofFerest thy gift at the altar, and 
there shalt remember that thy brother hath any thing 
against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and 
first go to be reconciled to thy brother, and then come 
and offer thy gift." Again, Luke, xvii., 4, the same 
divine Teacher saith, "If thy brother sin against thee 
seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn 
again to thee, saying, I repent, forgive him." And 
yet again, Col., iii., 12—13, the apostle saith, " Put ye 
on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, 
the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, 
patience ; bearing with one another, and forgiving 1 
one another, if any have a complaint against anoth- 
er ; even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do ye 
also." All these passages are in the plainest accord- 
ance with the precept of St. James, " Confess your 
sins one to another ;" and yet, in determined opposi- 
tion to them all, their champions do not blush to say 
that the confession of sins to persons who have no 
priestly poiver to forgive sins would he useless ! 

Thus, then, stands their scriptural argument for 
auricular confession and secret absolution, in what 
they call the Sacrament of Penance. Not only is it 
without the slightest real support, but it is even in 
conflict with positive and circumstantial evidence. 
They might, perhaps, make out a plausible case if 
their Church could condescend to adopt Mr. New- 
man's theory of Development, because their system 
was certainly developed after some centuries, out of 
what elements we shall see in due time. But, unfor- 
tunately for their cause, they would in that case stand 
convicted of error in having claimed for all their doc- 
trines an apostolic origin, and I fear that they are not 
yet ready to give up their figment of infallibility for 
the sake of an accordance with scriptural truth. 



78 DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. [CHAP. VI. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION TESTED BY SCRIPTURE. 

The remaining branch of the papal system which 
belongs to their sacrament of penance is the doctrine 
of Satisfaction, and as their Catechism of the Council 
of Trent appeals to the authority of Scripture on this 
point with great apparent confidence, it is necessary 
to examine the argument with serious attention. 

" Satisfaction," saith the Roman Church, in the 
words of their Catechism, " is the full payment of a 
debt ; for, when satisfaction is made, nothing remains 
to be supplied ; hence, when we speak of reconcilia- 
tion by grace, to satisfy is the same as to do that 
which may be sufficient to atone to the angered mind 
for an injury offered, and thus satisfaction is nothing 
more than ' compensation for an injury done to anoth- 
er.' Hence theologians make use of the word t satis- 
faction' to signify the compensation made by man to 
God, by doing something- in atonement for the sins 
which he has committed." 

Now here is a doctrine which we can not too 
strongly condemn as utterly hostile to the whole testi- 
mony of the Scriptures. Man can do nothing in atone- 
ment for his sins before the Almighty ; and hence our 
entire dependence for atonement must rest upon the 
sacrifice of our blessed Saviour. And this is equally 
true of all, without exception ; for the best men dur- 
ing the present life are encompassed with infirmity. 
Even the Apostle Paul confesses the imperfection of 



CHAP. VI.] DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 79 

his attainments, Philip., iii., 12—14: "Not as though 
I had already attained," saith he, "either were already 
perfect : but I follow after, if that I may apprehend 
that for which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended : 
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which 
are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which 
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the 
high calling of God in Christ Jesus." St. James, in 
like manner, ch. iii., v. 2, saith, " In many things we 
all offend." And St. John, 1 Ep., i., 8, saith, "If 
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and 
the truth is not in us." If, then, the best obedience 
of the holiest saints is still imperfect, how is it possi- 
ble that they can satisfy or atone to God for their 
former sins ? For what can they render to God be- 
yond the present demands of duty ? And if their 
highest efforts are still defective, so that they can only 
be accepted through the merits of Christ, how can they 
have a superfluity of obedience to set down as an off- 
set to their past transgressions, "in compensation," as 
the Roman Catechism calls it, to the justice of the 
Almighty ? Hence our Lord expressly declares, Luke, 
xvii., 10, " So you also, when you shall have done all 
the things that are commanded you, say, We are un- 
profitable servants ; we have done that which we ought 
to do." 

The Catechism of Trent, however, tries to evade 
this difficulty by setting forth three, or, rather, four 
kinds of satisfaction, and giving the first place to the 
atonement of Christ, which " stands pre-eminently 
above all the rest, as that by which, whatever is due 
by us to God on account of our sins, is paid abund- 
antly, although he should deal with us according to 
the strictest rigor of his justice. This, we say, has 



80 DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. [CHAP. VI 

appeased God, and rendered him propitious to us, and 
for it we are indebted to Christ alone, who, having 
paid the price of our sins upon the cross, offered to his 
Eternal Father a superabundant satisfaction." 

Here I am glad to acknowledge that their doctrine 
is in perfect accordance with the Word of God ; but 
the statement of this great truth does not remove the 
impiety of the notion that the penitent himself can 
" satisfy" or make " compensation" to divine justice. 
The debt paid by Christ can not be paid by the sin- 
ner also. And therefore the apostle saith, Eph., ii., 
8, « By grace you are saved through faith, and this 
not of yourselves ; for it is the gift of God. Not 
of works, that no man may glory" 

" There is another sort of satisfaction," continues 
the papal Catechism, " which is called canonical, and 
is performed within a certain fixed period of time. 
Hence, according to the most ancient practice of the 
Church, when penitents are absolved from their sins, 
some penance is imposed, the performance of which is 
commonly called satisfaction." 

This passage shows the historical origin of the term 
from which, by a gradual and deplorable distortion, 
the Church of Rome concocted, after the lapse of 
many centuries, their modern doctrine. The primi- 
tive Church began, in the fourth century, to establish 
certain canons of penitential discipline, which I shall 
quote in a subsequent chapter, by which gross sin- 
ners were put away from the Communion for various 
periods, in some cases for ten years and more ; and 
it is true, that after the period of public penitence al- 
lotted to the culprit was fulfilled, if his conduct was 
irreproachable, and his reformation was deemed sin- 
cere, he was considered as having given " satisfac- 
tion ;" but this satisfaction was to the Church, and 



CHAP. VI.] DOCTRINE OF SATISFACTION. 81 

not to the Almighty ; and therefore it was rightly 
called " Canonical," because it was in pursuance of 
the canons. And hence it afforded no ground what- 
ever for their modern theory, with which it had not a 
single element in common. For in those days the 
confession of sin was open, not secret. The peni- 
tence enjoined was regulated by the Canons, and not 
by the private dictation of the priest. The fulfill- 
ment of that penitence was public, not concealed and 
capable of evasion. The sinner was obliged to sat- 
isfy the Church that he was truly reformed first, and 
he was admitted to the Communion afterward ; where- 
as now their doctrine is, that he is to be privately ab- 
solved, and admitted to the Communion immediately ; 
that his penance is to be performed afterward ; and 
that the fact of his becoming reformed at all, being 
only a future contingency, shall not be taken into the 
account at the time of his absolution. Lastly, the 
words of absolution were then in the form of prayer, 
delivered in the face of the congregation, while now 
it is the positive "I absolve thee," uttered in the se- 
cret confessional. All these points will be proved by 
quotations from their own undeniable authorities ; and 
I only mention them at present, in order to show that 
in nothing but the mere word " satisfaction" have 
they retained any portion of the primitive system. 

"Any sort of punishment endured for sin," con- 
tinues the Trentine Catechism, " although not im- 
posed by the priest, but spontaneously undertaken by 
the sinner, is also called by the same name" (satisfac- 
tion). " It belongs not, however, to penance as a sac- 
rament : the satisfaction which constitutes part of 
the sacrament is that which is imposed by the priest." 
This, therefore, is the special subject which the 
Church of Rome insists on as the adjunct to her au- 



82 ERRONEOUS VIEWS [CHAP. VI. 

ricular confession and sacerdotal absolution ; and I 
may safely challenge the ingenuity of her whole hie- 
rarchy to find a single instance of any such penance, 
from Genesis to Revelation. 

They refer, indeed, in their celebrated Catechism, 
to a number of examples in which sin was punished, 
according to their hypothesis, by temporal sufferings, 
notwithstanding it was forgiven. And this punish- 
ment they assume to have been inflicted in order to 
satisfy the justice of the Almighty. But such a 
view of the matter is totally erroneous, not only un- 
supported by the statements of Scripture, but at war 
with the first maxims of universal equity; for what 
should we think of an earthly governor who, after 
fully pardoning an offense, should proceed to punish 
the offender ? And how can they imagine that the 
government of God is guided by a principle which is 
open to the charge of such glaring inconsistency ? 

The temporal consequences of sin, therefore, in the 
case of the faithful, which they call a punishment in- 
flicted to satisfy the justice of God, are rather to be 
considered as a fatherly and corrective discipline, in- 
flicted not as a punishment to satisfy, but as a reme- 
dy to cure. " Those whom I love," saith the Lord, 
Apoc, ch. iii., 19, "I rebuke and chastise ; be zeal- 
ous, therefore, and repent." " You have forgotten," 
saith St. Paul to the Hebrews, ch. xii., v. 5—10, 
" the consolation which speaketh to you as unto chil- 
dren, saying, My son, neglect not the discipline of 
the Lord, neither be thou wearied whilst thou art 
rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loveth, he 
chastiseth, and he scourge th every son whom he re- 
ceiveth. Persevere under chastisement. God offer- 
eth himself to you as to sons : for what son is he 
whom the father doth not correct? But if you be 



CHAP. VI.] OF TEMPORAL AFFLICTION. 83 

without chastisement, whereof all are made partak- 
ers, then are you bastards and not sons. Moreover, 
we have had, indeed, for our instructors, the fathers 
of our flesh, and we reverenced them ; shall we not 
much more obey the Father of spirits, and live ? 
And they, indeed, for a few days chastised us accord- 
ing to their own pleasure ; but he for our profit, that 
we might be partakers of his holiness." 

Here, then, is the beautiful theory of the Word of 
God, placing the whole of His afflictive discipline in 
the present life on the ground of a fatherly chastise- 
ment to correct and sanctify His erring children. How 
totally opposite to the Roman system, which considers 
it as a punishment by way of satisfaction to His 
justice ! — " a compensation," in the language of their 
Catechism, " made by man to God, in atonement for 
the sins which he has committed," 

Let us look, for example, at the case of Job. He led 
a life of apparently consistent holiness. His words 
and his conduct seem to have been perfectly pure and 
above reproach. Why did the Almighty commission 
Satan to put this holy man to such severe and pro- 
tracted trials ? Because His all-seeing eye read the 
patriarch's heart, and there beheld the destructive sin 
of spiritual pride or self-righteousness, which Job him- 
self knew not, but which was, nevertheless, increas- 
ing day by day. In love and in mercy, therefore, 
the Lord chastised His servant, in order to teach him 
to understand his secret sin and reduce his soul to 
the temper of true faith, which can only exist in con- 
junction with humility. For a considerable period 
the patriarch bears his sufferings with apparent sub- 
mission, but when his three friends begin to upbraid 
him, supposing, as the Church of Rome would say, 
that temporal afflictions could only be intended as a 



84 ERRONEOUS VIEWS [CHAP. VL 

punishment for sin, he betrays the true state of his 
heart, breaks out into open complaint and murmurs, 
accuses God of being cruel to him, justifies himself, 
and can see no reason whatever for his appointed 
wretchedness. At length, however, the merciful de- 
signs of the Lord are accomplished ; Job is humbled 
before the majesty of the Most High ; his pride is 
cast down, and he confesses his un worthiness in the 
language i>f true contrition, "I have uttered that I 
understood not," saith he, " things too wonderful for 
me, which I knew not. I have heard of thee by the 
hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, 
Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and 
ashes." And what was the result? the Almighty ap- 
proved the change of his servant's heart, and rebuked 
his three friends because they had misrepresented the 
divine character. Job was immediately released from 
his chastisement, since the gracious object of his suf- 
ferings had been attained, "and the Lord blessed his 
latter end more than his beginning." 

Now, on the Roman theory, what can be made of 
an example like this ? The patriarch had committed 
no outward sin anterior to his dreadful afflictions, and 
what could any of their priests have prescribed for the 
secret sin of the heart, of which even the transgressor 
himself was perfectly unconscious ? The language 
of our Lord and of St. Paul, however, already quoted, 
explains the whole. God saw the danger of His serv- 
ant, and administered His corrective discipline ; He 
chastened the patriarch as a kind father chastens the 
son in whom he delighteth, not as a punishment to 
satisfy His own divine justice, but as the only ef- 
fectual remedy for a deep-seated, mortal, yet unsus- 
pected disease of the soul. Thus it is that the Al- 
mighty shows himself in His true character toward 



CHAP. VI.] OF TEMPORAL AFFLICTION. 85 

His adopted children, and their bitter affliction is so 
far from being the sentence of a stern Judge, that it is 
in reality the healing medicine of a tender and com- 
passionate Physician. 

The favorite example of the Roman theologians, 
however, is the case of David, in which they contrive 
to distort the sacred history from its proper aspect, 
and present it in a guise which can only be admired 
as a specimen of strangely-perverted ingenuity. I 
shall quote the argument in its own connection, for 
it is worthy of serious attention as a striking proof 
of the power which a false theory can exercise in mis- 
interpreting the Word, of God. 

" The faithful are to be taught," saith the papal 
Catechism, p. 267, " that sin carries in its train two 
evils, the stain which it affixes, and the punishment 
which it entails. The punishment of eternal death, 
it is true, is forgiven with the sin to which it was 
due, yet, as the Council of Trent declares, the stain is 
not always entirely effaced, nor is the temporal pun- 
ishment always remitted. Of this the Scriptures af- 
ford many evident examples ; that of David, however, 
is the most conspicuous and illustrious. Already had 
Nathan announced to him, « The Lord also hath taken 
away thy sin, thou shalt not die ;' yet the royal pen- 
itent voluntarily subjected himself to the most severe 
penance, imploring night and day the mercy of God 
in these words : < Wash me yet more from my iniqui- 
ty, and cleanse me from my sin, for I know my in- 
iquity, and my sin is always before me.' Thus did 
he beseech God to pardon not only the crime, but also 
the punishment due to it, and to restore him, cleansed 
from the stains of sin, to his former state of purity 
and integrity. This is the object of his most earnest 
supplications to the throne of God, and yet the Al- 



86 THE CHASTISEMENT OF DAVID [CHAP. VI. 

mighty punishes his transgression with the death of 
his adulterous offspring, the rebellion and death of his 
beloved son Absalom, and with the other heavy chas- 
tisements with which his vengeance had already threat- 
ened him." 

Now here, with much plausibility, the Church of 
Rome endeavors to make the sacred history bear test- 
imony in her favor, whereas, in truth, the evidence 
is all against her. For surely it is perfectly manifest 
that the Lord proposed two objects to be accomplish- 
ed in the chastisement of the highly favored David. 
The one respected the sinner himself; the other re- 
spected the solemn lesson required for the whole na- 
tion of Israel. The Prophet Nathan delivered the di- 
vine decree in these words : " Thou hast killed Urias 
the Hethite with the sword, and hast taken his wife 
to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of 
the children of Ammon. Therefore the sword shall 
never depart from thy house, because thou hast de- 
spised me, and hast taken the wife of Urias the Heth- 
ite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I 
will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, 
and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and give 
them to thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives 
in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly, 
but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and 
in the sight of the sun. And David said to Nathan, 
I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to 
David, The Lord also hath taken away thy sin : thou 
shalt not die. Nevertheless, because thou hast given 
great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blas- 
pheme for this thing, the child that is born to thee 
shall surely die." 

From this it is evident that the iniquity of David 
had produced, as might indeed be naturally expected, 






CHAP. VI.] RIGHTLY EXPLAINED. 8? 

a most extensive and injurious effect on the religion 
and morals of the whole nation ; for not only was 
he a monarch, whose eminent dignity would of itself 
be sure to give his example a great influence over his 
subjects, either for good or evil, but he was a popular 
monarch, the favorite of Israel on account of his vic- 
tory over Goliath, and his numerous conquests of all 
their other enemies. Moreover, he was the inspired 
author of many of the Psalms, and eminent for his 
devotion to the God of Israel. When such a man 
fell from his lofty and distinguished pre-eminence to 
be a vile adulterer, and even to murder one of his 
most faithful captains for the sake of possessing his 
wife, it is manifest that it must have inflicted a dread- 
ful wound upon the faith and feelings of the kingdom. 
For sins of a much lighter dye in popular estimation, 
Saul had been cut off and his offspring disinherited. 
Nor was it in this alone that the course of David was 
of an evil tendency ; for it is perfectly manifest that 
he had fallen into the too common error of allowing 
his children to grow up in habits of vicious self-indul- 
gence. Absalom, Amnon, and Adonijah are striking- 
examples of the worst depravity. And it is easy to 
see how awfully corrupt the whole nation was likely 
to become with such models before them, when the 
monarch who stood so high, as the inspired psalmist 
and the zealous worshiper of God, not only suffered 
his sons to run riot in iniquity without any restraint, 
but even sanctioned, in his own person, the awful 
crimes of adultery and murder. All this must, indeed, 
have given great occasion to the enemies of God to 
-blaspheme, as the Prophet Nathan declared ; because 
there is no blasphemy greater than that which pro- 
claims an alliance between the public profession of 
religious zeal and the habits of the vilest personal 



88 THE CHASTISEMENT OF DAVID [cHAP. VI. 

profligacy ; and hence it became absolutely necessary, 
for the vindication of the divine law and the divine 
character, as well as for the safety of the morals of 
the whole nation, that the displeasure of God should 
be made manifest, first, on the monarch himself, by 
slaying the offspring of his sin, and letting loose the 
wicked ambition of his sons against him ; secondly, 
on his flagitious children ; and, thirdly, on the Israel- 
ites, who had become already so depraved that they 
were prepared to encourage the rebellion of the son 
against the father, and applaud even the shameful in- 
cest advised by Ahitophel, and perpetrated by Absa- 
lom in the open day, and in the sight of the people. 

It seems marvelous, to any sober and unprejudiced 
mind, how a case of corrective discipline like this 
could ever be quoted in support of the Romish doc- 
trine. Their Catechism declares, indeed, that " the 
royal penitent voluntarily subjected himself to the 
most severe penance." But how does it appear that 
it was a penance ? They confess that it availed noth- 
ing. The threatened chastisement came as it was 
appointed. How, then, can they possibly imagine 
that it was regarded as a penance or a satisfaction at 
all ? Is it not obvious that the Almighty, when He 
saw the compunction of the monarch's heart, and 
commanded the prophet to say, " The Lord hath taken 
away thy sin," must have conveyed to him a free 
and full forgiveness ? And yet, notwithstanding this, 
David needed a long course of suffering and humilia- 
tion, to make him realize the dreadful nature of his 
transgressions, to cure him of all his pride and self- 
confidence, and to sanctify his soul by a deeper re- 
pentance, a more absolute faith, and a holier obedi- 
ence. His trials, therefore, were not, as they say, a 
punishment inflicted on him in satisfaction to the 



CHAP. VI.] RIGHTLY EXPLAINED. 89 

justice of God; but a merciful chastisement, admin- 
istered as a wholesome and necessary discipline, to 
enlighten, to purify, and to reform. The first would 
have been the act of a vindictive Judge. The second 
was the act of a kind and watchful Father. And 
hence the record of the sacred history utterly forbids 
their construction, because no just judge could first 
pardon a crime, and then proceed to inflict a satisfac- 
tory punishment. Surely, then, it is manifest that 
David's sufferings were not a judicial penalty, but a 
parental correction, and his bitter tears of humiliation 
were not, as the Roman theory supposes, a self -im- 
posed penance, designed to propitiate the justice of 
the Deity, but the genuine product of a heart dis- 
solved in sorrow for the sins which had made so heavy 
a chastisement necessary, and shed not only for him- 
self, but for his family and his people. 

The next point which the Roman Catechism lays 
down is worthy of attention. " In satisfaction two 
things are particularly required : the one, that he who 
satisfies be in a state of grace, the friend of God : 
works done without faith and charity can not be ac- 
ceptable ; the other, that the works performed be such 
as are of their own nature painful or laborious" 
And then, a little after, we read as follows : " The 
pastor will teach that every species of satisfaction is 
included under these three heads — prayer, fasting, 
and alms-deeds" 

I find no reference to Scripture for these proposi- 
tions, and truly it would be a hopeless effort for the 
ingenuity even of the Council of Trent to reconcile 
them to the Word of God. It is surely not to be be- 
lieved that the will of our heavenly Father proposes 
any thing belonging to His service as being " in its 
own nature painful or laborious" To our fallen and 



90 VICARIOUS SATISFACTION [cHAP. VI. 

corrupt nature, indeed, prayer, fasting, and alms-deeds 
may too often be irksome, disagreeable, and burden- 
some. But in themselves, and to those who are in " a 
state of grace, the friends of God," and capable of 
realizing " true faith and charity," prayer is the high- 
est privilege, alms-deeds the purest pleasure, and fast- 
ing, so far as it is enjoined by divine authority, is an 
acceptable discipline of the flesh, and the handmaid to 
devotion. To my mind it seems nothing better than 
a libel upon Christianity to call its duties " of their 
own nature painful or laborious.^ On the contrary, 
the great Redeemer tells us that His yoke is easy, 
His burden light, His service the only perfect free- 
dom. It is the constant principle of the Bible that 
the way of transgressors is hard, that the ways of 
heavenly wisdom are pleasantness and peace, and that 
holiness and happiness belong together. 

But now I come to a yet more unscriptural doc- 
trine, and one that is a special favorite with the 
Church of Rome for many reasons of policy. " In 
this," saith their Catechism, " the mercy and good- 
ness of God shine conspicuous, and demand our grate- 
ful acknowledgments, that he has granted to our frail- 
ty the privilege that one may satisfy for another. 
This, however, is a privilege which is confined to the 
satisfactory part of penance alone, and extends not to 
contrition and confession : no man can be contrite or 
confess for another, while those who are gifted with 
divine grace may pay through others what is due to 
the divine justice, and thus we may be said, in some 
measure, to bear each other's burdens. This is a doc- 
trine on which the faithful can not for a moment en- 
tertain a doubt, professing, as we do, in the Apostle's 
Creed, our belief in the communion of saints. Re- 
generated, as we all are, to Christ, in the same cleans- 



CHAP. VI.] REFUTED. 91 

ing waters of baptism, partakers of the same sacra- 
ments, and, above all, of the same heavenly food, the 
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are all, 
it is manifest, members of the same mystical body. 
As, then, the foot does not perform its functions solely 
for itself, but also for the sake of the other members, 
and as the other members perform their respective 
functions not only for their own, but also for the com- 
mon good, so works of satisfaction are common to all 
the members of the Church."^ 

Here, too, there is no attempt to quote the Scrip- 
tures, any further than the reference made to the apos- 
tle's doctrine, that we are every one members of each 
other. But the conclusion drawn from this fact is in 
the face of the Bible, and of the very analogy from 
which it is pretended to be derived. The power of 
satisfying the justice of God for others is the sole pre- 
rogative of Christ, and we hold it to be a most peril- 
ous absurdity to extend it to the saints on their im- 
aginary ground of works of supererogation. As to the 
members of the natural body, it is preposterous to re- 
gard them in the light of substitutes for each other, 
in any sense which will suit the Roman doctrine. 
Can the wounded hand be restored by the efforts of 
the feet ? Can the diseased eye be healed by the act- 
ivity of the ear ? Can the increased action of the 
heart relieve the decaying lungs ? True, indeed, it 
is that the connection between the several members 
obliges them to sympathize with each other, in pain 
and in joy ; and it is here that the apostle places the 
analogy. But to extend this to the idea that one 
member can restore the health or discharge the proper 
functions of another, is pure imagination. 

And quite as imaginary is the notion that the 

* Catechism of the Council of Trent, first Am. ed., p. 272. 



92 VICARIOUS SATISFACTION REFUTED. [CHAP. VI. 

Communion of Saints applies the works of Satisfac- 
tion — prayer, fasting, and alms-deeds — done by one 
man, to the reconciling another man to the justice of 
God. True, we are bound by that communion to 
the feelings and actions of religious sympathy — to 
weep with those that weep, to rejoice with those 
that rejoice, to pray for one another, to supply each 
other's wants, and to bear each other's burdens. And 
the sick man is enjoined to send for the elders of the 
Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him 
with oil in the name of the Lord, with the promise 
that the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the 
Lord shall raise him up, and if he have committed 
sins, they shall be forgiven him. But all this is far 
short of the "paying through others vjhat is due to 
the divine justice" for which we can look to none but 
Christ alone. No Christian can have more faith, 
more penitence, more charity, more zeal, or more good 
works than he needs for the account of his own stew- 
ardship. When he has done all that he can, he is 
bound to confess himself an unprofitable servant. 
Where, then, is the superfluity which can be placed 
to the account of his brother ? And where is the au- 
thority to any man for relying on such superfluity 
being applied to his account, even if it were possible 
that it could exist? The whole proposition, there- 
fore, is a dangerous delusion ; the tendency of which 
is to withdraw the heart from a single trust in Christ, 
and put a vain confidence in the supposed merits of 
the Saints : notwithstanding the Scripture saith, 
" None can by any means redeem his brother, nor 
give to God a ransom for him" (Ps. xlix., 7). " Work 
out your own salvation with fear and trembling" 
(Phil., ii., 12). " For every one shall bear his own 
burden" (Gal., vi., 5). 



• 



CHAP. VII.] TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS. 93 

It is not ray object to pursue this prolific fountain 
of error into its connection with the Roman doctrine 
of purgatory and indulgences. But leaving at this 
point the attempt of their writers to justify their 
system of auricular confession, absolution, and satis- 
faction by the Scriptures, as being sufficiently ex- 
posed, I shall commence the testimony of the fathers 
in the following chapter. I do not forget, indeed, that 
a portion of their argument is grounded on expedien- 
cy, and on the beneficial results which, as they say, 
have followed the practical operation of their system 
on the best interests of mankind. All this, however, 
I shall postpone for the present. The rise, progress, 
and final consummation of their Confessional, present- 
ing what I have called its history, now claims our 
attention; and their reasons of expediency, founded 
on experience, will be examined afterward, 



CHAPTER VII. 

TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS. 

In proceeding to the evidence of the fathers, it may 
be necessary to premise, that Penitence is treated by 
them under a two-fold aspect : -first, as an inward con- 
trition of the heart on account of sin ; and, secondly, 
as an external discipline, enjoined on those who, by 
gross offenses against the precepts of the Gospel, had 
incurred the sentence of excommunication. In the 
first sense, Penitence was a constant spiritual exer- 
cise of every Christian, and was included in that pe- 
tition of the Lord's Prayer in which he was taught 



94 TERTULLIAN. [cHAP. VII. 

daily to say, " Forgive us our trespasses, as we for- 
give those who trespass against us." But in the 
other sense of open discipline, during which the of- 
fender was separated from the communion and society 
of his brethren, it became a settled maxim in the 
primitive Church that it could only be allowed once, 
with the hope of restoration. In the case of the 
incestuous Corinthian, whom St. Paul directed the 
Church at Corinth to excommunicate (1 Cor., v.), 
and afterward, when the repentance and reformation 
of the offender appeared to be satisfactory, recom- 
mended them to receive again (2 Cor., ii., 6—11), 
we have a plain proof of apostolic authority for this 
act of discipline. And the oldest of the fathers who 
speaks upon the subject clearly shows that, so early 
as the close of the second century, the rule was gen- 
eral, that the excommunicated man, after his brethren 
and the ministry were convinced of his genuine con- 
trition and amendment, might be readmitted to the 
communion of the faithful, but that if he fell under 
the same sentence again, he was cut off without re- 
turn. Of the modern Roman Confessional, however, 
with its private and secret penance and absolution, 
the fathers appear to have had no conception. 

Thus, commencing with the testimony of Tertul- 
lian, who may be set down about A.D. 200, we find 
him stating as follows : 

" The Penitence which the grace of God accords to Chris- 
tians, and which recalls them to the Lord, is allowed but once, 
and ought not to be permitted after a repetition of the sin." — 
(App., Note 2.) 

" The laver of baptism is the seal of faith, which faith begins 
from penitence. We are not washed in order that we may 
cease from sinning, but because we have ceased, since we are 
already cleansed in heart. A second penitence is opened to us 
in the porch of the church, but only once, because it is the second ; 
for oftener than once, it would be vain. — {App., Note 3.) 



CHAP. VII.] TERTULLIAN. 95 

The note of the Roman editor upon these pas- 
sages states correctly (App., Note 4) that the author 
alludes to the custom and rite of his day, which was, 
that penitents were obliged to remain in the porch or 
vestibule of the church for a certain time, and that 
only one act of penitence was allowed after baptism. 

Tertullian next proceeds to state the discipline of 
penitence in these terms : 

" The evidence of this second and only penitence is the more 
laborious, as it is not to be manifested in the conscience only, 
but in act ; and this act is what the Greeks called Exomologe- 
sis" (i. e., confession), "by which we confess our sin to the Lord, 
not because He is ignorant of it, but because satisfaction is pre- 
pared for by confession, penitence commences in confession, 
and by penitence God is appeased." — (Appt, Note 5.) 

" Therefore, this Exomologesis (or penitential confession) is 
a discipline of prostration and humiliation, enjoining a behavior 
suitable to the obtaining of mercy, commanding the penitent 
concerning his garments and his food, that he shall lie on sack- 
cloth and ashes, defile his body with dirt, deject his mind with 
grief, change with sorrowful treatment his incentives to sin, 
live on bread and water, not for the sake of his body, but of his 
soul, nourish his prayers with frequent fasting, groan, weep, 
moan day and night to the Lord his God, fall down before the 
presbyters, and embrace the knees of those who are the beloved of 
God, beseeching all his brethren to intercede for him." . . . . " The 
less you spare yourself, the more, be assured, God will spare 
you. The major part, however, shun this publication of their 
sin and this work of penitence, or defer it from day to day, being 
more mindful, I presume, of their shame than of their safety ; 
like those who, being diseased in the secret parts of their body, 
avoid the knowledge of their physicians, and so perish through 
their foolish modesty." — (App., Note 6.) 

Here we have a graphic description of penitence in 
the primitive Church, as it was practiced in the days 
of Tertullian ; nor is there, in his whole treatise on 
the subject, the slightest allusion to any other disci- 
pline on account of sin. But it is to be especially 
noticed that he directs the penitent to beseech his 



96 CYPRIAN. [CHAP. VII. 

brethren to intercede for him, which shows that the 
ministers were not expected to decide on the propriety 
of restoring him by their own judgment alone, but by 
the common consent of the Church : just as St. Paul, 
in the case of the incestuous Corinthian, saith, « To 
whom ye forgive, I forgive also." And this was evi- 
dently the only rule which could restore the offender 
to the confidence and love of his brethren, without 
which, in that primitive age, the communion of the 
saints would have been thought to have lost half its 
value. 

My next witness is Cyprian, the famous bishop 
of Carthage, who recognizes, fifty years later, the 
same rule. Thus, speaking in reference to Ninus, 
Clementian, and Floras, who had been overcome by 
the force of torments to deny the faith in time of per- 
secution, he saith : 

" They had not ceased to perform the act of penitence, dur- 
ing three years together, for this heavy lapse ; though they fell 
not by their will, but by necessity." 

And then, addressing his clergy, he adds : 
" Concerning whom you have thought it good to inquire, 
whether it is yet lawful to admit them to the communion." — (-4pj?-> 
Note 7.) 

Again, he complains of others who had been read- 
mitted too soon, without the full period of their peni- 
tence having been accomplished, in these words : 

"For notwithstanding sinners, who have offended in lesser 
transgressions, are obliged to perform their' penitence for the 
proper time, and then come to their confession according to the or- 
der of discipline, and receive the rite of communion by the im- 
position of the hands of the bishop and the clergy ; yet now, 
after an insufficient time, while the persecution still continues, 
and the peace of the Church herself has not yet been restored, 
these men are admitted, and their name is offered ; although 
their penitence has not been performed nor their confession made, 
nor the hands of the bishop and the clergy laid upon them, the 



CHAP. VII.] LACTANTIUS. 97 

Eucharist is given to them, when it is written, * Whoever shall 
eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall 
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.' " — (App., Note 8.) 

My third witness, Laotantius, A.D. 306, speaks 
of the remission of sins without any allusion to the 
system of public penitence, but urges the necessity 
of the penitent's being sincere : 

"Great is his privilege of mercy, to whom the Lord prom- 
ises the remission of sins. If thou nearest the prayers of thy 
suppliant, saith the Almighty, I also will hear thine; if thou 
takest pity on those who are in trouble, I also will take pity on 
thee ; but if thou wilt not regard nor help them, I also will bear 
thy mind against thyself, and will judge thee by thine own rules 
of action."— (App., Note 9.) 

"For God is mainly desirous to purge men from their sins, 
therefore He orders them to exercise repentance. But to exer- 
cise repentance is nothing else than to profess and affirm that 
we will not sin any more. Since, if our mortal condition does 
not allow us to be pure from all stain, our carnal sins should be 
abolished by a continual and abundant effort." — (App., Note 10.) 

" For if we ourselves, when we perceive our children to 
have repented of their offenses, and believe them to be reform- 
ed, although they have been cast off and disowned, do neverthe- 
less receive them again, and cherish and embrace them, why 
should we despair of obtaining the clemency of our heavenly 
Father by repentance? Therefore the same Lord, who is our 
most indulgent Parent, promises thatiJe ivillremit the sins of the 
'penitent, and will blot out all his iniquities, when he begins at 
length to follow righteousness." — (App., Note 11.) 

Here we perceive at once that Lactantius treats 
of repentance, under its spiritual aspect, as the daily 
exercise of the Christian in confessing his sins to God, 
praying for pardon in the name of the blessed Re- 
deemer, and constantly watching his heart and his 
life, in order that the fruits of a genuine faith might 
accompany his efforts, and bear testimony to his 
growth in grace and holiness. He makes no refer- 
ence to the public penitence of which Tertullian and 
Cyprian speak, when gross and mortal sins were com- 

E 



98 COUNCIL OP ELVIRA. [CHAP. VII. 

mitted, demanding the work of discipline, by which 
the offender was put away from the communion of the 
faithful, and obliged to remain prostrate in the vesti- 
bule of the church during the time of worship, with 
every mark of grief and self-abasement, until he was 
judged to have been sufficiently humbled and thor- 
oughly reformed. We have already seen that it was 
enough to have been once subjected to this public 
penitence, according to the practice of those early 
ages ; for there was no hope of a second return to the 
Church if the offender fell away again. But the other 
exercise of penitence continued to be necessary through 
life, and was essential to the spiritual growth and in- 
ward sanctification of all men. Of both the fathers 
speak freely, as I shall show in many extracts. Not 
one of them, however, recognizes the doctrine of pri- 
vate confession and absolution, by which the papal 
Church in after ages superseded the ancient system. 
It does not appear that the public discipline, de- 
scribed by Tertullian, was regulated by any formal 
code until the fourth century. In the year 313, the 
Council of Elvira set the earliest example on record, 
and I shall cite a few of their penitential canons as a 
specimen of the whole; although I think it more than 
doubtful whether the simplicity of the primitive Church, 
in leaving the periods discretionary, was not altogether 
preferable. 

Canon I. 
" It pleased the Council that if any one, after the faith of 
saving baptism, and being of full age, should go to the temple 
for the purpose of playing the idolater, and should do so ; for 
this principal crime, which is the highest wickedness, he shall be 
deprived of the communion to his life's end." — (App., Note 12.) 

Canon VII. 
* l If any of the faithful, after having committed adultery, and 



CHAP. VII.] COUNCIL OF NICE. 99 

fulfilled the appointed time of penitence, shall again become a 
fornicator, let him be deprived of the communion to his life's 
end."— (App., Note 13.) 

Canon VIII. 
In like manner, those females who shall leave their husbands 
without any sufficient cause, and connect themselves with other 
men, shall be deprived of the communion until their life's end." 
— (App., Note 14.) 

Canon XXXII. 
" If any one shall pass from the Catholic Church to heresy, 
and shall again return, penitence shall not be denied to him, 
forasmuch as he acknowledges his sin. Let him, therefore, per- 
form penance for ten years. After ten years he ought to be 
admitted to the communion. But if infants have been thus led 
away, they ought to be received without delay, because they 
did not sin by their own fault." — (App., Note 15.) 

Canon LXXIV. 
" A false witness, as perjury is a crime, shall abstain from 
communion. But if that of which he accused another was not 
a capital offense, and he can prove it, he shall abstain two years. 
If, however, he can not prove this to the council of the clergy, 
let him abstain five years." — (App., Note 16.) 

Canon LXXIX. 
" If any of the faithful shall play at dice for money, he shall 
abstain from the communion ; and if, being reformed, he shall 
cease to transgress, he may be reconciled after one year."— 
(App., Note 17.) 

One specimen more, taken from the XII. Canon of 
the General Council of Nice, A.D. 325, will be enough 
for the present to show the nature of public penitence 
in the primitive Church. 

"If any, being called through the grace of God, have at first 
manifested their faith by laying aside their military girdle, but 
afterward have returned to their own vomit, and seek, by offer- 
ing money and by other means, to enter the army again, let 
them remain ten years among the penitents, after they have 
been three years first among the hearers. In all such, how- 
ever, especial attention shall be paid to their disposition, and to 
the fruits of their penitence. For those who show, with nil 



100 EUSEBIUS. [CHAP. VII. 

fear, and persevering tears, and good works, that their conver- 
sion is not only in words, but in deed and in truth, when their 
appointed time of hearing is fulfilled, may begin to communi- 
cate in the prayers of the Church, and it shall also be lawful for 
the bishop to think of somewhat more lenient concerning them. 
But those who treat their fall with indifference, and deem it 
sufficient that they are allowed to enter the Church, must ac- 
complish the full period appointed." — (Ajpp., Note 18.) 

From these specimens, the system of public peni- 
tence is easily understood. But the private penitence 
practiced by every believer was a matter between the 
sinner and his God, and in vain shall we look for the 
slightest trace of the present doctrine of Rome, until 
long after the age of primitive purity. This asser- 
tion I shall fully establish by many other witnesses. 

Thus Eusebius, the bishop of Cesarea, A.D. 325, 
writes as follows : 

" The beginning of good is to abandon the former evil by 
true penitence and confession, which leads to a good end, name- 
ly, to God. For if there is none good but God, the beginning 
of the best way leading to God must be confession. There- 
fore it is written, It is good to confess to the Lord. Moreover, 
it is meet that we utter our confession not to men, but to god, 

WHO SEARCHES THE HEARTS." (Apj)., Note 19.) 

On the text of the Psalmist, Confess to the Lord, 
and call upon his name, Eusebius gives this com- 
mentary : 

" A great matter is here indicated ; for if, saith he, you 
have confessed and forsaken your sins, by invoking His name 
with confidence, you will be able to produce great things. Nor 
is it without reason that He desires us first to confess, and after- 
ward to invoke Him, but it is in order that, being cleansed 
through confession, we may offer our hymn of praise from a 
pure instrument. — {App., Note 20.) 

"Confession is the beginning of our progress according to 
God, and joy in God is the end; but there are many things 
placed in the midst between these. It is first necessary, there- 
fore, that men should confess to the Lord with sincere peni- 
tence, and with fruits agreeing with their confession ; but after- 



CHAP. VII.] ATHANASIUS. 101 

ward, having advanced to better things, they may have confi- 
dence and call upon His name : and thus, when, after confes- 
sion, they supplicate him, they may be endowed with divine 
graces," &c. — {App., Note 21.) 

It is impossible to suppose that in these and many 
similar passages this eminent father could have writ- 
ten thus, without the slightest allusion to the modern 
Roman system, if auricular confession and private 
priestly absolution had been known in his day. 

But I pass on to the testimony of the still more 
famous Athanasius, the patriarch of Alexandria, who 
flourished about A.D. 340. In answer to the ques- 
tion, " What law gives the pardon of all sins ?" he 
makes the following response : 

" The law of the Lord, saying : Judge not, and ye shall not 
he judged. And again, Forgive us our debts, like as we also 
forgive our debtors. Hence it appears that not to judge our 
neighbor gives pardon for all sins. The same applies to the 
not remembering offenses. Forgive, saith He, and you shall 
be forgiven." — (App., Note 22.) 

In reply to another question, " If a man shall 
have committed a very grievous sin, and repented, 
how shall we learn whether he has been forgiven by 
God or no ?" Athanasius gives this answer : 

" This, truly, is made plain to few men upon earth : never- 
theless, even as it is between the master and the servant, so is 
it between the conscience of a man and God. Thus, as the 
servant who has offended, may know, from the gestures and 
language of his master, that he is not in the same favor as he 
was before ; in like manner the sinner loses the liberty of 
speaking which his conscience previously possessed in his pray- 
ers. But when he has truly repented, God grants to him again 
the liberty of speaking with Him, which he had before his sin. 
And by this the man knows that God has pardoned his sin." — 
(App., Note 23.) 

Here, again, the whole work of penitence, confes- 
sion, and absolution, is presented as an internal mat- 
ter between the soul and the Redeemer, without the 



102 CYRIL. [CHAP. VII. 

slightest allusion to the Roman system of priestly in- 
tervention. The delusion of their tribunal of penance, 
in which a poor infirm mortal is invested with the au- 
thority of Christ over his fellow, and undertakes to 
enjoin his works of satisfaction to the justice of God, 
and to pronounce in positive terms that his sins are 
forgiven, stands in marked contrast to the simple and 
spiritual theology of the fourth century. 

Let us next hear the admirable Cyril, archbishop 
of Jerusalem, whose Catechetical Discourses, publish- 
ed A.D. 345, are among the most interesting remains 
of antiquity. 

" The present time is the time of confession. Confess what 
thou hast perpetrated, either in word or in deed, whether by 
night or by day. If thou hast any thing against another, for- 
give. Thou drawest near that thou mayest receive the pardon 
of thy sins ; it is necessary that thou also pardon him that sins 
against thee ; otherwise with what front wilt thou say to the 
Lord, forgive my many sins, when thou hast not forgiven thy 
fellow-servant even afewV — {App., Note 24.) 

" Benignant is God, and greatly benignant; for say not thou, 
I have been a fornicator and adulterer ; I have committed griev- 
ous crimes, and that not once only, but very often. Will He 
pardon them ? Will He grant that they may be forgotten ? 
Hear what the Psalmist declares : How great is the multitude 
of thy mercy, O Lord! Thine accumulated sins overcome not 
the multitude of the divine mercies. Thy wounds exceed not 
the skill of the Supreme Physician. Only give thyself up to 
Him with faith. Rehearse to the Physician thy disease ; say 
thou with David, I said, I will declare against myself my iniqui- 
ty to the Lord, and it shall be done to thee like that which fol- 
lows : And thou hast forgiven the impiety of my heart:'' — (App., 
Note 25.) 

Here, too, we read not a word about confession to 
the priest, nor a syllable concerning sacerdotal abso- 
lution. 

My ninth witness is the celebrated Hilary, bishop 
of Poictiers, who is usually placed A.D. 350 ; and 



CHAP. VII.] HILARY. 103 

from his works I purpose to take a larger testimony, 
worthy of special attention. 

" The greatest and most useful medicine," saith Hilary, "for 
the diseases of our deadly sins is in the confession of them. 
But the confession of sin is not like the professing of matters 
unknown to others; as if a thief, being interrogated concerning 
his theft, or a homicide concerning his bloodshedding, should 
confess it. Neither is it as if God, who searcheth the heart 
and the reins, needs thy confession for His knowledge, since He 
sees at once not only the things which have been thought, but 
also those which will be thought hereafter. The confession of 
sin is this, that thou, through the knowledge of sin, mayest 
confess thine act to be sin ; but no man ought thenceforth to 
repeat what he has confessed to be sin, because the confession 
of sin is the profession of abstaining. Therefore, all our vices 
being purged away by confession, there is need of abstaining ; 
and we must always pray to God that, in curbing our sins and 
extinguishing their incentives, He will strengthen the doubtful 
efforts of our will ; for which reason the prophet, already con- 
fident, through his confession and prayer, places himself within 
the port of innocence when he says, I will confess to thee, O 
Lord, with my whole heart, since thou hast heard the words of 
my mouth.'" — (App., Note 26.) 

" Therefore, let all our hope be directed to God, and all our 
confession he in God, according to the example of the prophet, 
saying, O Lord, my help and my redeemer." -^-(App., Note 27.) 

" In confession to God, nothing should be kept back, hidden, 
concealed, or bound up in the heart. Every affection must be 
spread out before Him, that there may be no confidence in our- 
selves, but that through Him, before whom, as it were, we pour 
ourselves forth for sin, we may be aided." — (App., Note 28.) 

" Wherever there is the confession of sin, there is justifica- 
tion by God, which is testified by our Lord in the publican and 
the Pharisee, when the Pharisee gloried that he was right- 
eous, but the publican prayed for his sins." — (App., Note 29.) 

In all these passages from Hilary we have the same 
doctrine of the Scriptures : repentance toward God, 
confession to God, forgiveness by God, without the 
slightest allusion to the priest, the secret tribunal of 
penance, the power of sacerdotal absolution, or any 
thing else that savors of the papal doctrine. But one 



104 HILARY. [CHAP. VII, 

extract more from his commentary on the Gospel of 
St. Matthew may be advisable, because it enters with 
still greater fullness into the saving truth that Christ 
is the only Dispenser of forgiveness to the sinner. The 
passage is as follows : 

"It moves the Scribes that sin was remitted by a man, for 
they only saw a man in Jesus Christ, and that He undertook to 
remit what the law was not able to relax. For faith alone 
justifies. Then the Lord beholds their inward murmuring, 
and saith, that it is easy for the Son of Man to forgive sins upon 
the earth; for truly no one is able to forgive sins except God 
only : therefore He who remits is God, because no one remits ex- 
cept God. God dwelling in man supplies the remedy to man; 
and there was no difficulty of speaking or acting to Him, who 
could do all that He speaks. Moreover, that He, thus placed in 
the body, might be understood to be the same who could both 
forgive the sins of their souls and effect the resurrection of their 
bodies, He saith, That ye may know that the Son of Man hath 
power upon the earth to forgive sins, he saith to the paralytic : 
Arise, take up thy bed: and they honored God, who gave such 
power to men. In this order, all things are concluded, and the 
fear of desperation now ceasing, honor is rendered to God, be- 
cause He had given such power to men : but this was due to 
CJirist alone ; to Him alone, through the communion of the sub- 
stance of His Father, was it suitable to do these things. It is not, 
therefore, a subject of wonder that. He could act thus (for what 
shall be thought impossible with God?), otherwise the praise 
would be of one man, and not of many : but the cause of the 
honor ascribed to God is this : that the privilege is given to men 
by this way through His Word, of the remission of their sins, of 
the resurrection of their bodies, and of their admission into heav- 
en."— (App., Note 30.) 

Here our primitive witness puts the remission of 
sins, the resurrection of the body, and the heavenly 
inheritance, aM in the same connection with the im- 
mediate prerogative of Christ's divine nature. Cer- 
tainly, if the doctrine of Trent had then been estab- 
lished, that God only remits sins through the inter- 
vention of priestly absolution in the secret tribunal 
of auricular confession, it seems impossible to account 



CHAP. VII.] BASIL THE GREAT. 105 

for the total absence of any allusion to it in an argu- 
ment like this. 

My tenth witness is Basil the Great, bishop of 
Cesarea, whose testimony may be set down to A.D. 
370. And this eminent father presents the rules of 
penitence and confession according to the primitive 
plan, and in terms quite irreconcilable with the Ro- 
man doctrine. His words are these : 

" The Judge desires to have compassion upon thee, and to 
make thee a partaker of His mercies : if only, after thou hast 
sinned, He finds thee humble, contrite, greatly lamenting thine 
evil deeds, and publishing without shame those things which have 
been secretly committed, beseeching the brethren that they may be 
a help to thee toward receiving thy cure.'''' — (App., Note 31.) 

Here we may observe, that Basil requires the pen- 
itent to publish to his brethren even his secret sins, 
in order to have the benefit of their supplications. 
There was then no private confession to the priest 
alone, no private absolution, but all was open to the 
knowledge and the sympathy of the faithful laity, 
and referred, in prayer, to God. And the same spir- 
itual principle is strongly urged in the following ex- 
tract : 

" One thing, above all, is to be avoided by thee, namely, sin ; 
and thy only refuge from evil deeds is God. Trust not in 
princes, be not carried away in the uncertain pursuit of riches, 
be not proud of your bodily strength, follow not after the splen- 
dor of human glory. None of these leads to salvation, they are 
all temporary, all deceitful : your only refuge is God. Cursed 
is the man who places his hope in man, or in any human thing." 
—(App., Note 32.) 

The next two passages are taken from Basil's rules 
for monasteries. The reader ought, perhaps, to be in- 
formed or reminded that the institution of monachism 
had been unhappily introduced into the Church about 
the close of the previous century, and was yet in its 
infancy. The rules prescribed to the monks by Ba- 

E 2 



106 BASIL THE GREAT. [CHAP. VII. 

sil were arranged in questions and answers, and his 
system obtained great repute, being still followed by 
many of the Oriental Christians. 

" Question. Is it proper to disclose our forbidden actions, 
without shame, to all, or only to certain persons, and who are 
these ? 

" Answer. The same rule is to be observed in the confession 
of sins which obtains in disclosing the diseases of the body. In 
like manner, therefore, as men do not lay open the diseases of 
the body to all, nor to any one, but to those who are skilled in 
curing them, so likewise the confession of sins ought to be made 
before those who are able to cure them, as it is written, You who 
are strong, bear the infirmities of the weak ; that is, Take them 
away by care and diligence." — (App., Note 33.) 

" Question. Ought he whc wishes to confess his sins to confess 
them to all, and to any one, or to whom ? 

"Answer. It is necessary to confess your sins to those to 
whom the dispensation of the mysteries of God is committed ; 
for so likewise those who formerly exercised penitence are 
related to have done it before the saints. Thus it is written, 
in the Gospel, that sins were confessed to John the Baptist ; 
but in the Acts, to the apostles themselves, by whom also they 
were all baptized." — (App., Note 34.) 

One sentence more will be required to show Basil's 
view of this matter fully : 

" It is proper, however, not to drive them" (i. e., penitents) 
" from the Church altogether, but to allow them a place among 
the hearers for two or three years, and afterward to permit 
them to stand with the faithful, but let them abstain from the 
communion ; and thus, some fruit of their penitence being mani- 
fested, they may be restored to the place of communion." — 
(App., Note 35.) 

Here, in the questions designed for the use of the 
monks, there is some appearance of an approach to the 
Roman system. But the difference is still so great 
as to form a marked distinction. I might observe, in- 
deed, that Basil, directing confession to be made to 
those who have committed to them the dispensation 
of the divine mysteries, and referring for proof to the 
Acts of the Apostles, was plainly mistaken, since there 



CHAP. VII.] BASIL THE GREAT. 107 

is no example in the Acts of persons confessing their 
sins, after baptism, either to the apostles or to any 
one else. But the main point to be remarked is, that 
the Roman Catechism states the system of auricular 
confession to the priest as a thing of divine institu- 
tion, grounded on the express commission of Christ, 
saying, " Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remit- 
ted," &c. (which I have already shown to be con- 
nected with baptism, p. 71); while Basil, on the con- 
trary, claims no such authority, but places his rule on 
the analogy of human discretion, comparing the case 
of sinners disclosing their transgressions to the priests 
with the custom of sick men telling their diseases to 
the physicians. Secondly, he says nothing of secrecy, 
nor of private absolution, nor of any sacramental vir- 
tue connected with the act of the priest, all of which 
are indispensable to the Roman system. Thirdly, the 
very fact that such questions were propounded on be- 
half of the monks, affords reasonable evidence that the 
priests of those days had not yet arrogated any such 
prerogative. Fourthly, the rule for the monasteries 
must be understood in consistency with the other pas- 
sages, where Basil speaks of penitence according to 
the old practice of keeping transgressors from the 
communion for years together, and exhorts sinners to 
disclose to their brethren, without shame, those sins 
which had been secretly committed. But lastly and 
especially, when Basil speaks of confessing their sins 
before those who are able to cure them, he evidently 
makes no allusion to any act of priestly absolution, 
but only to the results of pastoral oversight ; for he 
explains himself by saying, that the sins were to be 
" taken away by care and diligence." 

And with this accords the testimony of Gregory, 
bishop of Nazianzen, the cotemporary and friend of 



108 GREGORY NAZIANZEN. [CHAP. VII. 

Basil. I shall cite him, therefore, as my eleventh 
witness to the established system of the primitive day : 
" Do not think it grievous to confess thy sin, knowing in what 
covenant John baptized : that by the shame of the presentlife thou 
may est escape the shame and ignominy of the life to come, and may- 
est make it manifest that thou hatest and detestest sin, seriously 
and sincerely, while thou dost treat it as if worthy of contume- 
ly, and expose it to scorn, and accomplish thy triumph over it." 
—(4pp., Note 36.) 

These reiterated exhortations of the ancient fathers 
to disregard the shame of public penitence, in order to 
obtain the pardon of their sins, afford the strongest 
proof that the papal system had not been yet invent- 
ed. For why should any man expose himself to a 
public disgrace who could obtain equal benefit from a 
private tribunal of strict secrecy ? And why should 
he be told to wait for years without absolution and 
restoration to the communion, when he could receive 
them both by the secret authority of a single priest 
without any delay whatever ? 

But it is time to close this chapter^ lest I weary 
the patience of my readers by too long a list of proofs 
without the relief of an occasional pause. I have yet 
many witnesses to bring forward, and I must invoke 
the spirit of persevering attention, in order that their 
evidence may be considered with care and reflection, 
and that the labor of collecting their testimony be not 
in vain. 



CHAP. VIII.J AMBROSE. 109 



CHAPTER VIII. 

TESTIMONY OF AMBROSE AND JEROME. 

Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, is my 
twelfth witness to prove the established doctrine and 
practice of the primitive Church, and his testimony 
may be taken as extending from the year 374, when 
he was made bishop, to the year 397, when he died. 
My extracts from this author are so numerous, that 
it will be expedient to classify them under the follow- 
ing heads : 1. The public and the private exercise of 
penitence. 2. The mode of performing private peni- 
tence. 3. The mode of performing public penitence. 
4. The absolution given by the priesthood when the 
penitent was restored to the communion. 5. The 
general results of the divine correction and discipline 
to the penitent sinner. 

1. The Public and the Private Exercise of Penitence. 

" Those persons are justly to be censured who think that 
penitence may be exercised often, because they grow wanton 
in Christ ; for if they would exercise penitence truly, they 
would not think of repeating it afterward, because, as there is 
but one baptism, so there is but one penitence, which, never- 
theless, is performed publicly, for We ought to repent, indeed, 
of our daily sin ; but this penitence is for lighter offenses, that 
for the more weighty." — (App„ Note 37.) 

Here we see Ambrose asserting the same doctrine 
of one exercise of public penitence, and no more, which 
Tertullian had recognized nearly two centuries earlier. 
But daily private penitence was held by all the fa- 
thers to be a constant duty. 



110 AMBROSE. [CHAP. VIII. 

2. Tlie Mode of performing Private Penitence. 

" I said, O Lord, have mercy upon me ; heal my soul, 
for I have sinned against thee. This may also have been 
said in the person of King David, who, seeing in the Spirit the 
victory and grace of Christ, asks that in that remission of all 
sins He would have mercy also upon his. Therefore he con- 
fesses his sin, that he may receive forgiveness, and may find 
the gift of general pardon." — (App., Note 38.) 

" He saith further, I will declare my iniquity to the 
Lord. It is not enough, however, that we confess our error; 
but if we desire also to be corrected, let us ask of the Lord 
that He will teach us His righteousness, lest we may err again. 
Therefore he seeks to be taught by the Lord, because One is 
our Master, as saith Christ. Nor does he seek this in vain, for 
he is not blessed whom man teacheth, but he whom Thou in- 
structest, O Lord."— (App., Note 39.) 

" Therefore he whose sins Christ has pardoned, rightly saith : 
Recompense thy servant, that I may live, and I will keep thy word. 
As in the book of the prophet He himself testifies, saying, I, / 
am He who blotteth out thine iniquities, and will remember them 
no more. Whoever, therefore, declares his iniquities to the 
Lord, is justified ; and whoever is justified, does not fear rec- 
ompense, but asks for it; and he who does not fear recompense 
shall live."— (App., Note 40.) 

" But humility recommends prayer. Thus that Pharisee was 
reproved who enumerated his fasts as if they were benefits, and, 
as it were, thrust them before God, and counted himself guilt 
less of all transgressions. But the publican was commended, 
who, standing afar off, would not lift up his eyes to heaven, but 
smote upon his breast, saying, O Lord God, be merciful to me a 
sinner. And so the divine sentence preferred him, saying, This 
publican went down justified rather than the Pharisee. For he 
is justified who confesses his own sin, as the Lord himself has 
testified : Declare thine iniquities, that thou mayest be justified." 
—(App., Note 41.) 

All this may be properly understood of the daily 
private exercise of penitence, and here there is no al- 
lusion whatever to the intervention of the priest, or 
the tribunal of sacerdotal confession, but the whole is 
the habitual utterance of the humble soul direct to 
God, followed by the divine acceptance and blessing. 



CHAP. VIII.] AMBROSE. Ill 

I have next, however, to consider the statements of 
our author under a different head. 

3. The Mode of performing Public Penitence. 

" He who exercises penitence ought to be prepared to bear 
opprobrium, and submit to reproaches, nor should he be moved 
if any one taunts him with his crime. For when he should ac- 
cuse himself, why should he not bear the accusation of another?" 
— (App., Note 42.) 

" Father, saith the prodigal son, I have sinned against heaven 
and before thee. This is the first confession to the Author of 
nature, the Prince of mercy, the Judge of guilt. But although 
God knows all things, He waits for the voice of thy confession. 
For ivith the mouth confession is made unto salvation. In vain 
wouldst thou conceal aught from Him, whom nothing can de- 
ceive, and thou mayest disclose without danger what thou art 
aware is already known. Rather confess that Christ may un- 
dertake for thee, for He is our Advocate with the Father ; let 
the Church pray for thee, and let the people weep. Nor shouldst 
thou fear that thou wilt not obtain. Thine Advocate assures 
thee pardon, thy Patron promises grace, the Proclaimer of pa- 
ternal piety pledges to thee a reconciliation. Believe, because 
it is truth : submit, because it is virtue." — {App., Note 43.) 

" I have found more easily those who have preserved their 
innocence than those who have exercised penitence thorough- 
ly. Can any one deem that to be penitence where there is 
the ambition of acquiring dignity, and the pouring out of wine, 
and the use even of conjugal pleasure? The world should be 
renounced ; the very sleep which nature requires should be 
abridged ; he must be hindered by groanings, interrupted by 
sighs, drawn off by prayers ; he must live as if dead to the uses 
of mortality ; the man must deny himself and be wholly chang- 
ed." — (App., Note 44.) 

" If any one, therefore, having committed secret crimes, 
would nevertheless, for Christ's sake, diligently exercise pen- 
itence, how does he receive the fruits of penitence if the com- 
munion is not restored to him ? I will that the culprit should 
hope for pardon ; let him seek it with tears, let him seek it with 
groanings, let him seek it with the bewailings of all the people, 
let him beseech that he may be forgiven ; and when his com- 
munion is delayed a second and a third time, let him believe 
that he has supplicated too remissly, let him increase his weep- 
ing, let him afterward return more wretched, let him embrace 



112 AMBROSE. [CHAP. VIII. 

their feet with his arms, let him cover them with kisses, let 
him wash them with tears, nor let him cease, that the Lord 
Jesus may say of him, His sins, which are many, are forgiven 
because he loved much." — (App., Note 45.) 

" I have known some in their penitence who had wrinkled 
their face with tears, furrowed their cheeks with continual 
weeping, prostrated their bodies to be trodden on by all, and 
who presented in their living person the vacant and pallid ap-. 
pearance of death." — (App., Note 46.) 

To a consecrated virgin, who had fallen into the sin 
of fornication, Ambrose addresses himself as follows : 
"But thou who hast already entered the struggle of peni- 
tence, persevere, O miserable woman ; cling strongly, as if to a 
plank in shipwreck, hoping that by this thou mayest be deliver- 
ed from the abyss of thy crimes. Adhere to penitence even to 
thy last hour, nor do thou presume that pardon can be given 
thee in the present life, for he who would promise thee this 
only deceives thee. Since thou hast sinned directly against the 
Lord, from himself alone canst thou expect the remedy in the 
day of judgment." — (App., Note 47.) 

To her seducer, Ambrose gives this counsel : 

" Thou mayest seek willingly the prison of penitence, bind 
thy bowels with chains, torment thy soul with groans and fast- 
ings, implore the help of the saints, lie down under the feet of 
the elect, that thine impenitent heart may not lay up for thee 
wrath in the day of wrath, and of the just judgment of God, 
who will render to every man according to his works." — (App., 
Note 48.) 

These extracts show sufficiently the open mani- 
festation of severe self-discipline expected in the case 
of public penitents ; and we have next to hear the 
same witness on the subject of the absolution with 
which the bishop and the clergy admitted them to the 
communion after their course of penitence was accom- 
plished ; although, as we have already seen, there 
were many sins so aggravated, in the judgment of 
the primitive Church, that there was no possibility of 
return to the society of the faithful in the present life, 
but only a hope allowed that Christ might still for- 



CHAP. VIII.] AMBROSE. 113 

give them in the great day. Our fourth head, there- 
fore, will be, 

4. The Absolution given by the Priesthood when the Public Pen- 
itent was restored. 

" The Church keeps in both respects the rule of obedience, 
as well in binding as in loosing sin. Justly, therefore, does the 
Church claim this power, which has true priests ; heresy can 
not claim it, because it has no priests of God." — (App., Note 49.) 

" Behold this also, that he who receives the Holy Spirit, like- 
wise receives the power of loosing and binding sin ; for thus it 
is written, Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose sins ye shall remit, 
they are remitted ; and whose sins ye shall retain, they are re- 
tained. Therefore, he who can not remit sin has not the Holy 
Spirit. The office of the priest is the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
but in loosing and in binding crimes, the right is of the Holy 
Spirit ; how, therefore, should they claim the gift of Him, 
whose right and power they do not believe V- — {App., Note 50.) 

"But men, in the remission of sins, only exhibit their minis- 
try ; they do not exercise the right of any power. For it is not 
in their own name, but in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that they remit sins. They ask, 
the Deity gives ; for the ministration is human, but the convey- 
ance of the gift is of divine power." — (App., Note 51.) 

" I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and 
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; 
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. 
"What is said to Peter is said to the apostles. We do not usurp 
power, but serve His government, lest afterward, when the 
Lord shall come, and shall find those bound who ought to be 
loosed, He may be moved against the steward who has kept 
those servants bound whom the Lord had ordered to be loosed." 
—(App., Note 52.) 

"Why, therefore, do you use the. imposition of hands, and 
believe the efficacy of benediction, if, happily, any sick man has 
recovered ? Why do you presume that any can be cleansed 
through you from the filth of the devil ? Why do you baptize, 
if it is not lawful, through man, to remit sins ? For truly, in 
baptism there is the remission of all sins ; but what does it sig- 
nifiy whether through penitence or through the font the priests 
claim this right to be given them ? In both there is the one 
mystery."— (^4pp., Note 53.) 

Now in all this we perceive the same principle. 



114 AMBROSE. [CHAP. VIII. 

The first reception of the penitent believer in bap- 
tism was through the ministry ; his confirmation 
and admission to the feast of the Eucharist were by 
the ministry ; when his sins made it necessary to de- 
bar him from the communion, it was by the sentence 
of the ministry. And of course, when his penitence 
was deemed sufficient, and his offenses were to be ab- 
solved, it was also through the same ministry. But 
as all the other acts of the ministry were open, and 
in the face of the Church (the exigency of sickness 
and the peril of death being the only exceptions), so 
the reception of the penitent was public likewise ; 
nor could it have been regarded as any thing short of 
absurdity to close a public penitence by a private 
absolution. 

The last head of testimony from the eminent Am- 
brose yet remains, namely : 

5. Tlie General Results of the Divine Correction and Discipline 
to the Penitent Sinner. 

" To perform penitence is the true medicine which is then 
lawfully set forth, when the Physician comes from heaven, who 
would not exasperate our wounds, but heal them." — (App., 
Note 54.) 

" And, therefore, let us who are in this body of death, pray 
that this Physician, beloved of God, may not desert us, whom 
the patriarch David prayed that He might not depart from him. 
Behold how the patient that would be healed yields to the 
Physician in every thing ! Attend to the order. He first opens 
his wounds to the Physician, and saith, Heal me, but I pray 
thee not in thine anger, because my infirmities can not bear 
harsh medicine. The medicine of Christ is chastisement, for 
the Lord chastiseth whom He would convert." — (App., Note 55.) 

" Take away, then, O Lord Jesus, with thy powerful knife, 
the rottenness of my sins : whilst thou holdest me tied with the 
bonds of love, cut away whatever is corrupted. I have found 
the Physician who inhabits heaven, and scatters His medicine 
upon earth. He alone can cure my wounds, who is himself 
undefiled : He alone can bear away the grief of the heart and 



CHAP. VIII.] AMBROSE. 115 

the paleness of the soul, who knows all secret things." — (App., 
Note 56.) 

" He is not confounded, even although he may have commit- 
ted shameful things, who asks the pardon of his sins from Christ. 
For so it is answered to him, Thy sins are forgiven ... Go in 
peace. But then only he is not confounded, if the remission 
of sins is so wrought within him, that not only the sin, but even 
the desire of sinning, is taken away. Let righteousness remit 
iniquity; fortitude, fear; temperance, impurity; that the re- 
mission of his sins may be not merely temporary, but perpet- 
ual. Let Christ enter into thy soul, let Jesus inhabit thy 
thoughts, that there may be no place for sin in the tabernacle 
of virtue." — (App., Note 57.) 

Thus we have the sentiments of this primitive wit- 
ness at large, in which it is impossible to find a sin- 
gle expression favorable to the Roman doctrine in its 
peculiar and distinctive form. There is no allusion 
to the sacrament of penance, the exposition of which, 
as the Catechism of Trent declares, " demands greater 
accuracy than that of baptism." There is no confes- 
sion of sins to the priest, other than the public con- 
fession which the penitent made likewise in the pres- 
ence of all his brethren. The power of the priesthood 
to absolve the penitent is expressly and carefully stated 
to be ministerial, and not judicial, in direct contra- 
diction to the Roman system. Sins of peculiar atroc- 
ity are considered beyond the reach of earthly absolu- 
tion ; and penitence, once allowed, is never repeated : 
whereas the Church of Rome undertakes to absolve 
from all sins, and accommodates the perpetrators with 
equal readiness, no matter how often they may have 
been absolved before ; while the cases reserved are not 
left to the decision of Christ in the day of judgment, 
but are merely transferred from the priests to the bish- 
ops and the pope. Above all, however, there is here 
no secret tribunal of sacerdotal dictation and inquisi- 
tion, where the confessor sits as in the place of God ! 



116 EPIPHANIUS. [CHAP. VIII. 

And yet it is obvious that in treating so largely on 
the very subject of penitence, it would have been im- 
possible for Ambrose to have omitted all allusion to 
these things, were it not for the very sufficient reason 
that the Church of Christ was as yet a total stranger 
to the modern Roman system. 

I pass next to the testimony of my thirteenth wit- 
ness, Epiphanius, the bishop of Salamis, who was co- 
temporary with Ambrose, and died A.D. 403. His 
language is as follows : 

" Truly, penitence is perfect in baptism. But if any one 
should fall, the holy Church of God does not will him to be lost ; 
yea, she allows him to be received, after penitence and the op- 
portunity of changing his will." — {App., Note 58.) 

" As for those who have lapsed in time of persecution, even 
to them, if they weep before the Lord, sitting in sackcloth and 
ashes, and perform the full penitence appointed, the beneficent 
God is able to apply his mercy." — (App., Note 59.) 

On these brief extracts I would only remark, 1st. 
That our witness agrees with all the rest in making 
the restoration of the penitent the act of the Church, 
and not the solitary, private function of the priest- 
hood ; and, 2d. That he requires the penitence to be 
completed before the reotoration. 

My fourteenth witness will yield a large testimony, 
and a more important one, on account of his eminent 
authority in the primitive Church, and his remarka- 
ble character for learning and sanctity. I refer to 
the celebrated Jerome, who was another cotemporary, 
in part, of Ambrose, but survived him about twenty- 
five years, having died A.D. 422, at the advanced age 
of ninety. 

" However grievous the sin of any one may be, if he be con- 
verted, he may be healed." — (App., Note 60.) 

" Every one is bound by the cords of his sins, which cords 
and chains the apostles are able to loose, imitating their Master, 
who had said to them, WJiatsoever you shall loose upon earthy 



CHAP. VIII.] JEROME. 117 

shall he loosed also in heaven. But the apostles loose them by 
the Word of God, and the testimonies of the Scriptures, and 
the exhortation to virtue." — (App., Note 61.) 

" To the discipline of the priest it belongs to answer ques- 
tions concerning the law. For if he shows himself not only a 
lover of ignorance in other things, but neglectful in the Holy 
Scriptures, he boasts in vain of a dignity whose works he does 
not exhibit. This is what the Apostle Paul writes to Titus, 
that he should be powerful to exhort with sound doctrine, to 
convince the gainsayers. And to Timothy: As thou hast known 
from infancy the sacred Scriptures, which are able to instruct 
thee unto salvation, that thou mayest rebuke sinners before all." 
—(App., Note 62.) 

"If that serpent the devil has privily bitten any one, and has 
infected him with the poison of sin, no one being conscious of 
it, and he does not exercise penitence, nor is willing to confess 
his wound to his brother and Master, his Master, who has the 
tongue to cure him, can not easily profit him. For if the sick 
man is ashamed to confess to the physician the wound which 
he knows not, the medicine does not cure." — [App., Note 63.) 

" Blessed are those whose iniquities are pardoned, and whose 
sins, through confession, are washed away by the Lord. But 
by what modes are sins remitted ? By three. They are re- 
mitted through baptism, they are covered by charity, they are 
not imputed through martyrdom." — (App., Note 64.) 

Now here it is worthy of great remark that Je- 
rome takes no notice whatever of any prerogative, 
even of the apostles themselves, in the remission of 
sins, save only what they exercised "by the Word of 
God, the testimonies of the Scriptures, and the ex- 
hortations to virtue ;" that he specially quotes St. Paul's 
command to Timothy, to rebuke those that sinned 
"before all ;" that the only confession he recommends 
the sinner to make is to his " brother and Master," 
where it is evident that the term brother refers no 
more to the priest than to any other Christian ; and 
the term Master as evidently can only refer to Christ. 
Lastly, we see that Jerome reckons only three modes 
by which sins are remitted through the acts of human 



118 JEROME. [CHAP. VIII. 

agency, baptism, charity, and martyrdom. Charity, 
however, in this passage, is doubtless intended, not to 
exclude penitence, but to distinguish the quality which 
makes penitence effectual before God, according to 
that declaration of the Saviour, M Her sins, which are 
many, are forgiven, because she loved much." 

I may here mention the statement of the Roman 
scholiast on Jerome, that the learned Erasmus, who 
lived and died in the communion of the Church of 
Rome, " denies the secret confession of sins to have 
been practiced among the ancients, and admits only 
the public confession, which was made on account of 
public sins." — (App. y Note 65.) 

As to the reference of the Trentine Catechism to 
the sentence of Jerome about penitence being '.< the 
second plank after shipwreck," it is precisely in ac- 
cordance with what we have already seen in all the 
other witnesses who speak of the one allowance of 
public penitence after baptism. And I shall only add, 
that Jerome, in his epistle to Rusticus,^ collects a 
great number of passages from Scripture on the sub- 
ject of penitence, without taking the slightest notice 
of confession to the priests, or even of the penitential 
canons, only urging confession to God. 

My next witness, who is the most voluminous, as 
well as the most profound of the fathers, furnishes so 
large an amount of evidence, that it will be expedient 
to make his testimony the subject of a distinct chapter. 

* Tom. i., p. 142-5. 



CHAP. IX.] AUGUSTIN. 119 



CHAPTER IX. 

TESTIMONY OF AUGUSTIN . 

It is a subject of no small gratification to me, that 
in turning to Augustin, whom the Church of Rome 
acknowledges as the most eminent, on the whole, 
among the ancient fathers, I shall be able to demon- 
strate in the clearest manner the novelty of their 
present system ; for although his testimony, in the 
main, does not differ from that of his predecessors, 
yet his statements are more full and precise, and 
therefore less capable of evasion. I appeal, therefore, 
to this, my fifteenth witness, with considerable con- 
fidence, that even the judgment of Romanists might 
be satisfied, if unhappily their figment of infallibility 
did not shut them out from the possibility of convic- 
tion. The language of Augustin is as follows : 

" There are three kinds of penitence which your Erudition 
recognizes, as I do ; for they are familiar in the Church of 
God, and known to those who are diligently attentive. One is 
that which travails with the new man, until, through saving 
baptism, the washing away of all past sins takes place ; so that, 
as when a child is born, the pains pass off by which the womb 
was urged to the birth, joy may follow sorrow. For every one 
who is already made the arbiter of his own will, when he 
comes to the sacraments of the faithful, unless he repents of 
his old life, he can not begin with the new one. From this kind 
of penitence when they are baptized, infants alone are exempt- 
ed, because they can not as yet use free will." — {-A-PP-i Note 66.) 

" Another kind of penitence is that which is required in the 
perpetual humility of supplication, through the whole of this 
life which we pass in our fleshly tabernacle. Whence, also, 



120 AUGUSTIN. [CHAP. IX. 

when we pray, we say, what through our whole life we are 
bound to say, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. 
For we do not pray that those debts should be forgiven, concern- 
ing which, unless we believe that they are already forgiven in 
baptism, we doubt of the faith itself; but we say this rather con- 
cerning our daily sins, for which also every one offers, without 
ceasing, the sacrifices of alms, fastings, and prayers, and sup- 
plications, with all his power." — (App.^ Note 67.) 

" The third kind of penitence is that which is to be per- 
formed for the sins committed against the laws contained in the 
Decalogue, and concerning which the Apostle saith, For those 
who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. There- 
fore, in this penitence every one ought to exercise a greater 
severity toward himself, that, being judged by himself, he may 
not be judged by the Lord."— (App., Note 68.) 

" Being bound, therefore, by the chains of these deadly sins, 
does any man refuse, or delay, or doubt whether he should 
have recourse to those keys of the Church by which he may 
be loosed on earth, in order that he may be loosed in heaven 1 
Let a man, then, judge himself in these by his own will, while 
he is able, and amend his ways ; lest, when he is no longer 
able, he may, against his will, be judged by the Lord. And 
when he shall have pronounced against himself the sentence 
of this most severe medicine, but yet a medicine still, let him 
come to the presiding ministers, by whom in the Church those 
keys are applied, and as already beginning to be a good son, the 
order being observed of his Mother's children, let him accept 
the mode of his satisfaction from those who preside over the 
sacraments, so that, being devout and suppliant in offering the 
sacrifice of a sorrowful heart, he may do what shall not only be 
profitable to his own salvation, but shall also serve for an exam- 
ple to others. To this end, if his sin be not merely to his own 
grievous injury, but is likewise a cause of scandal to others, and 
if it shall seem expedient for the good of the Church in the 
judgment of the bishop, let him not refuse to exercise penitence 
in the presence of many, or even of all the people : let him not 
resist, nor, through shame, add inflammation to the mortal and 
deadly wound." — {App., Note 69.) 

" And let no one think, brethren, on account of these things, 
that he ought to despise the use of this salutary penitence, be- 
cause he may, perhaps, observe and know that many come to 
the sacrament of the altar of whose crimes he is not ignorant. 
For many are corrected, like Peter; many are tolerated, like 



CHAP. IX.] AUGUSTIN. 121 

Judas ; many are unknown, until the coming of the Lord, who 
shall illuminate the hidden things of darkness, and make mani- 
fest the thoughts of the heart; for most men are unwilling to 
accuse others, desiring to be excused by them. And many 
good Christians are silent, and suffer the sins of others which 
they know, because the testimonies are often wanting, and those 
things with which they are themselves acquainted can not be 
proved to the ecclesiastical judges ; for although certain things 
may indeed be true, yet they are not to be easily credited by 
the judge, unless they are substantiated by certain evidence. 
But we can not prohibit any one from the Communion (although 
this prohibition is not yet mortal, but medicinal) unless he be ac- 
cused and convicted, either by his own voluntary confession, or by 
some secular or ecclesiastical judgment. For who would dare 
to take it upon himself, that he should act against any man both 
as accuser and judge ?" — (App., Note 70.) 

Now here we have the positive and irrefragable 
proof, which totally destroys the claims of the Roman 
system to an apostolical, or even a primitive origin. 
How little idea had Augustin, when he wrote this 
paragraph, that the time would ever come for pro- 
hibiting- all Christians from the sacrament, until 
they had passed through the private confessional of 
the priest, o,nd been forced to answer every question 
which he might choose to put to them, under the pen- 
alty of excommunication ? No contrast can be more 
complete than that exhibited between the fair and 
reasonable freedom of the Church, in the time of this 
ancient witness, and the priestly despotism which was 
fastened upon it in after ages. And the picture of 
relaxed discipline and inconsistent discipleship which 
Augustin sets before us in this passage, is a fair par- 
allel with the condition of most Christian communi- 
ties in our own day. The Church had declined from 
her first zeal and devotion. A hundred years and 
more had passed away since the fires of heathen per- 
secution had been exchanged for worldly peace and 
honor.. And although the image of the ancient strict- 

F 



122 augustin. [chap. IX. 

ness remained, and its form and principles were in- 
culcated, yet the vigor of its administration had van- 
ished to return no more. 

The theory of Augustin on the power of the keys 
will be shown by the following passages : 

" It is not without reason that Peter, among all the apostles, 
sustains the person of the Catholic Church, for to this Church 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given, when they were 
given to Peter. And when it is said to him, it is said to all, 
Lovest thou me ? Feed my sheep. Therefore the Catholic Church 
ought willingly to pardon her children, when they are corrected 
and confirmed in piety." — (App., Note 71.) 

" For the Church is His body, as the apostolic doctrine de- 
clares, where she is called even His spouse." — (App., Note 72.) 

" These keys, therefore, He gave to His Church, that those 
things which she should loose on earth might be loosed in heav- 
en, and those which she should bind on earth might be bound 
in heaven ; so that whoever should not believe his sins to be re- 
mitted in the Church, they would not be remitted." — [App., 
Note 73.) 

"And when He said, 'Receive ye the Holy Ghost,' He im- 
mediately added, « Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted ;' 
that is, the Spirit remits, not you. For the Spirit is God. God, 
therefore, remits ; not you. But what are you to the Spirit ? 
' Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of 
God dwelleth in you V And again : « Know ye not that your 
bodies are a temple, that in you is the Spirit of the Holy One, 
whom you have from God V God, therefore, dwells in His holy 
temple, that is, in holy believers, in His Church ; through them 
He remits sins, because they are living temples." — (App., Note 
74.) 

On this point, namely, whether the keys were given 
to Peter individually, or to the Church universal of 
which Peter was a figure, Augustin, at different times, 
held different opinions ; the Roman doctrine being the 
sentiment of his early ministry, but abandoned in his 
latter years. Thus he saith, in his Retractations : 

"But I know that afterward I explained most frequently the 
saying of our Lord, TJiou art Peter, and on this rock I will build 
my Church : so that upon this might be understood of Him whom 



CHAP. IX.] AUGUSTIN. 123 

Peter had confessed, saying, Thou art Christ, the Son of the 
living God ; and thus Peter, so called from this Rock, might 
represent the person of the Church, which is built upon this 
Rock, and hath received the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 
For it is not said to him, Thou art the Rock (Petra), but Thou 
art Peter, (Petrus). But the Rock was Christ, whom Simon 
confessed, even as the whole Church confesses Him, and was 
called Peter."— (App., Note 75.) 

Augustin, however, clearly allows the authority of 
governors and judges to the bishops, as all the ancient 
fathers did. Thus, interpreting the declaration of the 
prophet in the book of Revelation, " I saiv thrones and 
those who sat upon them, and judgment was given 
to them,' 1 '' Augustin saith : 

" This is not to be understood as uttered concerning the last 
judgment, but concerning the thrones of the bishops, and the 
bishops themselves, by whom the Church is now governed ; 
for the judgment given to them can not be better explained 
than by that saying, Wliatsoever ye shall hind on earth, shall he 
hound also in heaven" &c. — {App., Note 76.) 

And yet he maintains the priesthood of the laity, 
from another passage of the same prophecy, none the 
less strongly ; for, commenting on the declaration of 
the prophet, " They shall be the priests of God and 
of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand 
years," he gives the following explanation : 

" This is not said alone of bishops and presbyters, who are 
now properly called priests in the Church ; but even as we are 
all called Christians" (i. e., anointed ones), " by reason of the 
mystic unction, so we are all called priests, since we are mem- 
bers of the One Priest: of whom the apostle Peter speaks, 
saying, A holy people, a royal priesthood.'''' — (App., Note 77.) 

The application of this doctrine to the remission of 
sins by the discipline of the Church, will be easily 
understood when we remember that, while the people 
had no power to restore the penitent without the au- 
thority of the bishop and the clergy, so neither did 
the bishop and clergy act without the assent of the 



124 OUR OWN SYSTEM JUSTIFIED- [cHAP. IX, 

people. Therefore we have seen the frequent ex- 
hortations of the fathers to the penitent, urging him 
to embrace the feet of the saints, and beseech them 
earnestly to intercede on his behalf ; for, the power of 
the keys being lodged in the whole Church, the con- 
sent of the whole Church is presumed in their appli- 
cation, which the official governors of the Church are 
then only authorized to declare, when it is believed 
to be in accordance with the judgment of the brethren. 

Such is the precise principle followed in our own 
system, as is plain from the Rubric which directs 
the course to be pursued when communicants are re- 
pelled from the Lord's table. " If among those who 
come to be partakers of the Holy Communion, the 
minister shall know any to be an open and notorious 
evil liver, or to have done any wrong to his neigh- 
bors by word or deed, so that the congregation be 
thereby offended^ he shall advertise him, that he pre- 
sume not to come to the Lord's table until he have 
openly declared himself to have truly repented and 
amended his former evil life, that the congregation 
may thereby be satisfied" &c. On the same ground 
rests the administration of the Common Law, since 
the judge can neither acquit nor condemn the ac- 
cused without the previous verdict of the jury. Nei- 
ther ought the governor to exercise his official power 
in pardoning the culprit after he is condemned, unless 
where he can do it in accordance with the general 
sentiment of the citizens, or at least on a petition ad- 
dressed to him by persons of good standing for char- 
acter and probity. And yet the judge is none the 
less a judge, and the governor is none the less a gov- 
ernor. 

Now all this proves, not only the correctness of the 
principle as laid down in the language of Augustin, 



CHAP. IX.] DESPOTISM OP ROME. 125 

and fully sustained by the practice of the primitive 
Church, but also its manifest incompatibility with the 
exercise of priestly power in the secret confession and 
absolution of the Roman system ; for there the peo- 
ple are entirely cut off from any part in the adminis- 
tration of the keys, and the whole of this most seri- 
ous and solemn prerogative of the Church of God is 
usurped by the priesthood, without the knowledge of 
the rest, and in the darkness and irresponsibility of 
perfect despotism. They call themselves judges, in- 
deed, but no judge pronounces his decision in a man- 
ner like this. The administration of secular justice 
concerns not only the culprit, but the whole commu- 
nity ; and hence a secret tribunal is perfectly abhor- 
rent to the sense of all the world. And so it is in the 
case of the priesthood, who are judges in the Church. 
Hence the necessity of St. Paul's declaration to Tim- 
othy, " Those that sin rebuke before all, that others 
also may fear." Hence the maxims and the forms 
which governed the discipline of penitence in the prim- 
itive ages ; and hence we are bound to brand the Ro- 
man Confessional as being, not the regulated exercise 
of judgment, but the wantonness of tyranny. True, 
indeed, it is, that their priests exercise it in such an 
accommodating way, that their subjects are relieved 
from the ancient restraints, and therefore are seldom 
disposed to complain of it. But that fact is no justi- 
fication of their system. A well-managed and indul- 
gent despotism may be a very popular government, 
and yet it is a despotism still. 

Let us return, however, to the testimony of Au- 
gustin on the subject of the general confession of the 
Church in his day : 

" Those are not our only sins which are called crimes, such 
as adulteries, fornications, sacrileges, thefts, robberies, false test- 



126 AUGUSTIN. [CHAP. IX. 

imonies. To look upon any thing which you ought not, is sin; 
to hear willingly what ought not to be heard, is sin ; to think 
any thing which ought not to be thought, is sin." — {App., Note 
78.) 

" But our Lord, after that laver of regeneration" (baptism), 
11 has given us other daily remedies. Our daily cleansing is the 
Lord's Prayer. Let us say, and say truly, because that itself 
is an alms-gift, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debt- 
ors. Give alms, and all things are clean to you." — {App., Note 
79.) 

" Behold, the whole Church saith, Forgive us our sins. 
Therefore she has spots and wrinkles. But by confession the 
wrinkle is smoothed out; by confession the spot is washed away. 
The Church stauds in prayer, that she may be cleansed by con- 
fession ; and so long as she lives here, she thus stands. And 
when any one departs out of the body, all things are forgiven to 
him, if he had committed such sins as needed forgiveness; for 
they are even remitted by daily prayers : and then he will be 
cleansed, and thus the Church treasures up pure gold in the 
Lord's treasury, and by this means, in that divine treasury the 
Church is without spot or wrinkle." — {App., Note 80.) 

14 Wherefore, on account of those sins which are human and 
tolerable, and so much the more frequent as they are smaller, 
God has constituted in the Church, during the time of obtain- 
ing mercy, the daily medicine of prayer, that we may say, 
Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors ; that our 
face being washed by these words, we may go to the altar, and 
our face being washed by these words, we may communicate 
in the body and blood of Christ." — (App., Note 81.) 

No proof can be more positive than this against the 
modern innovation of the Church of Rome, which, in- 
stead of retaining the principles and customs of the 
primitive Church, as they are expressly testified by 
the fathers, allows no one to communicate until he 
has gone through the hands of the priest, in the secret 
confessional. 

The next passage which I shall quote is very strong 
and clear upon the true spirit of confession : 

"Do not extol thyself above God; submit thyself to God; 
adore, prostrate thyself, confess to Him who made thee ; for 



CHAP, IX.] AUGUSTIN. 127 

no one can create again, but He who creates ; no one makes 
again, but He who has made. Fly to thy Physician, implore 
thy Physician, who is omnipresent. Confess that from God 
thou hast all good things, but from thyself all that is evil. Do 
not despise Him and praise thyself in thy good things ; do not 
accuse Him and excuse thyself in thy evil things; this is true 
confession. For thou hast a Priest through whom thou canst 
appease thy God, and He with the Father is God toward thee, 
who is man for thy sake. Thus thou wilt rejoice in psalms, 
eoming before His face in confession. Rejoice in a psalm, 
coming before His face in confession. Accuse thyself; rejoic- 
ing in a psalm, praise Him. In accusing thyself, and praising 
Him who made thee, He will come who died for thee, and will 
revive thee." — {App., Note 82.) 

Here is the true force and efficacy of private con- 
fession, without the slightest allusion to any priestly 
intervention. The whole work is transacted between 
the sinner and the Lord. 

But I proceed next to an interesting passage on the 
subject of the old rule, which allowed only one public 
penitence. 

" Sometimes the iniquity of men proceeds so far, that even 
after the performance of penitence, after the reconciliation of 
the altar, they commit similar sins or greater. And yet God 
causes His sun to shine on such as these, nor does He grant 
them, any less than before, the largest gifts of life and salvation. 
And although, in the Church, the place of the humblest peni- 
tence is not conceded to them, nevertheless God does not forget 
His patience in their behalf. Hence, notwithstanding it may be 
cautiously and wholesomely provided that the place of this most 
humble penitence is granted but once in the Church, lest a 
medicine of little price might be less useful to the sick, seeing 
that it is the more salutary in proportion as it is the less contempt- 
ible, yet who may dare to say unto God, Why dost thou again 
spare this man, who, after one act of penitence, has again en- 
tangled himself in the snares of iniquity ? Who may dare to 
pronounce that to these the saying of the apostle shall not be 
applied, being ignorant that the patience of God leads thee to re- 
pentance ? Or that these must be excepted from the declara- 
tion of Scripture, Blessed are all they that trust in Him? Or 
that they have no part in the sentence, Quit yourselves like 



128 AUGUSTIN. [CHAP. IX, 

men, and let your heart be strengthened, all ye who hope in the 
Lord ?"—(App., Note 83.) 

It is easy to see, in this extract, that persons who 
had submitted themselves once to public penitence, 
and had afterward fallen away, were too commonly 
looked down upon with contempt, as utter reprobates ; 
and that while Augustin would not plainly censure 
the established rule of the Church, which permitted 
only one allowance of public discipline in such cases, 
yet he felt it his duty to record his own charitable 
feelings with regard to them, and openly to declare 
that the Lord would not cast them off because their 
brethren had forsaken them. 

There is an interesting passage in the sermon of Au- 
gustin on Matt., xviii., which next claims attention. 

" If thy brother sin against thee f go to him and reprove him, 
betioixt thee and him alone. Wherefore? Because he has sinned 
against thee. What means this : He has sinned against thee 1 
Thou knowest that he has sinned. But because it was in se- 
cret that he sinned against thee, seek secrecy when thou cor- 
rectest the sin. For if thou alone knowest that he has sinned 
against thee, and yet wilt reprove him before all, thou art not 
only a reprover, but an informer. Observe how that just man, 
Joseph, notwithstanding he suspected his wife of such a griev- 
ous crime, spared her with such benignity : .... he wished rather 
to profit than to punish the sinner. Being unwilling to publish 
her, he intended to put her away privately .... Therefore, when 
thy brother has sinned against thee, if thou only knowest it, 
then truly he has sinned against thee alone." 

" In the same manner we may act, and ought to act, not only 
when the sin is directed against ourselves, but when any one 
sins so that it is unknown to a third party. We ought in this 
case, also, to correct in secret, to reprove in secret; lest, by re- 
proving publicly, we betray the man. We truly desire only to 
rebuke and correct; but what if an enemy seeks to hear that 
he may punish? The bishop, for example, knows that a cer- 
tain man is a homicide, and no one knows it besides. I wish 
to rebuke him publicly, but thou seekest to prosecute him. In- 
stead of this, I neither betray him nor neglect him: I reprove 



CHAP. IX.] AUGUSTIN. 129 

him in secret; I place before his eyes the judgment of God ; I 
alarm his blood-stained conscience ; I persuade him to penitence. 
With this charity we ought to be endowed. Hence sometimes 
men censure us because we do not seem to reprove transgress- 
ors ; thinking either that we know what we know not, or that 
we are silent about what we know. Perhaps, however, what 
thou knowest, I know also; but I do not rebuke before thee, 
because I wish to cure, and not to accuse. There are men who 
commit adultery secretly in their houses, and sometimes they 
are discovered to us by their wives, for the most part through 
jealousy, but sometimes from a solicitude for their husbands' 
salvation. We do not betray such openly, but rebuke them in 
secret. Where the evil happens, there let the evil die. Never- 
theless, we do not neglect the wound ; before all things, show- 
ing to the man accustomed to such a sin, and bearing a distem- 
pered conscience, that such a wound is mortal," &c. — (App., 
Note 84.) 

Now the whole strain of this passage shows that 
there was nothing existing at the time like the con- 
fessional ; for it is manifest that Augustin would 
never have thus recommended the advantages of a 
voluntary confidence in the priesthood, and the expe- 
diency of secrecy on the part of the clergy, if the rule 
of the Church already obliged every one to a full dis- 
closure, and the priests were bound to keep silence by 
the ecclesiastical law. Neither could there have been 
any thing like a private absolution then administered, 
because the whole argument turns on the benefits of 
private counsel and rebuke ; and not a word is inti- 
mated about the authoritative forgiveness of the sin- 
ner. 

But here we may discern, nevertheless, the signs 
of the approaching change which, not long after, was 
advocated openly. It was, as we have seen, the ef- 
fort of the ancient fathers to induce gross sinners to 
confess publicly, and submit to the appointed peni- 
tence as the only hope of having pardon for their sin. 
Now, however, we see Augustin advising secrecy 

F 2 



130 AUGUSTIN. [CHAP. IX. 

even in the case of the homicide and the adulterer. 
From this it is manifest that the Church had declined 
from her early system of discipline, and was preparing 
to bring in a more accommodating practice. And along 
with this, we find the same eminent father adopting 
two other principles, which are utterly false in them- 
selves, although I am obliged to add that they form 
the basis of the modern Roman doctrine. 

Thus he lays down the following maxims on the 
subject of penitential .discipline : 

" Sin must be punished ; if it were not to be punished, it 
would not be sin. Prevent" (i. e., be beforehand with) " the 
Lord. Thou art not willing that He should punish, then pun- 
ish thyself. Apply thyself to the punishment of thy sins, be- 
cause sin can not go unpunished. Therefore it must be pun- 
ished, either by thee or by Him ; do thou confess it, that He 
may pardon." — (Ajpp., Note 85.) 

Now here Augustin advances a principle which, I 
am bound to say, is equally unscriptural and danger- 
ous. It is true, indeed, that sin must be punished, 
else it would not be sin ; and hence the necessity of 
that wondrous sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, on 
whom was laid " the chastisement of our peace," and 
" by whose stripes we are healed." But it is not true 
that we are told to punish our sins in order that God 
may not punish them, because His justice is satisfied 
by the all-sufficient atonement of the Saviour ; and 
therefore, as I have already shown, in commenting on 
the cases of Job and David, the afflictions appointed 
to His people are not punishments to satisfy our Al- 
mighty Judge, but corrections, administered for our 
improvement by the love of our heavenly Father. 
Hence the Scriptures nowhere command us to pun- 
ish our own sins, but to repent and forsake them. It 
would be a strange plea to bring before an earthly 
court, that the sentence of the judge was already an- 



CHAP. IX.] AUGUSTIN. 131 

ticipated by the criminal, who had condemned him- 
self, and had, of his own accord, afflicted his body suf- 
ficiently. And far more derogatory to the majesty 
of divine justice would it be that the sinner should 
say to God, O Lord, spare me the punishments which 
my sins have deserved, because I have been before- 
hand with thee, and have fasted, and wept, and worn 
sackcloth long enough, and thou oughtest to be sat- 
isfied. Such an address would be nothing better than 
an act of presumptuous impiety ; and surely the 
thought should not be encouraged in the heart, if it 
will not bear the process of translation into the lan- 
guage of prayer. 

It is true, indeed, that the saints of old repented in 
dust and ashes ; but this was the outward token of 
that inward sorrow which is inseparable from a true 
repentance, and was never confounded with the no- 
tion of a supposed commutation of punishment, ad- 
dressed to the divine justice. Among the Oriental 
nations all deep grief was expressed in the same man- 
ner, as is conclusively shown by the mode in which 
they mourned for the dead, and bewailed the public 
calamities of their country. But the language of in- 
ternal emotion should never be confounded with the 
idea of rendering an equivalent for sin. Instead of 
being addressed to the justice of God, our sorrow for 
sin is strictly addressed to His pity and compassion. 
From this false principle, however, thus advocated by 
Augustin, sprang all the corruptions of satisfaction 
to God as a part of penitence : a notion which is as 
derogatory to the office of Christ as it is delusive to 
the sinner. 

Closely connected with this erroneous view of self- 
inflicted punishment, is another phrase which often 
occurs in the writings of Augustin, although its 



132 AUGUSTUV. [chap. IX. 

commencement appears in other writers before his 
time. 

" Bemoan thy sins to God, and, confessing them to Him, thou 
wilt merit from Him complacency." — {Ajxp., Note 86.) 

Here is the root of a dangerous delusion : salvation 
rather by the sinner's own works, than by the free 
grace of the Redeemer. It is true, however, that the 
word mereor does not always convey this meaning. 
The sentence might be correctly rendered, " thou wilt 
obtain from Him," which would be perfectly unobject- 
ionable. And certainly this eminent father has many 
other passages which are quite orthodox on the point, 
as, for example, the following : 

" How dost thou distinguish the vows which thou makest to 
God ? In order that thou mayest praise Him, accuse thyself; 
because it is only of his mercy that he forgives our sins. For 
if he would act on the ground of our merits, he could not find 
any but those whom he condemns." — {App., Note 87.) 

Such declarations as this are a sufficient proof that 
the others were not intended to bear a different con- 
struction. And yet the Church of Rome has prefer- 
red the dangerous doctrine of human merit, and jus- 
tifies it, as she supposes, by the one class of patristic 
authorities, while she overlooks the other. 

I shall close the testimony of this celebrated bishop 
by an interesting acknowledgment of innovations in 
the Church, which indicates distinctly the melan- 
choly fact of the progress of superstition, and prepares 
the mind for further developments of " will- worship" 
at a subsequent day, 

"Whatever is instituted beyond the established custom, as if it 
were the observance of a sacrament, I can not approve ; although 
there are many things of this sort which, to avoid the scandals 
of some pious as well as some disorderly persons, I dare not 
more freely censure. But I lament exceedingly, that many 
precepts, most wholesomely ordered in the sacred Volume, are 
lightly regarded, and so full of various superstitions have all 



CHAP. IX.] AUGUSTIN. 183 

things become, that the man who should touch the earth with 
his bare feet on Sundays is more severely taken to task than 
he who buries his reason in drunkenness. Therefore all such 
matters, which are neither enjoined by the authority of the 
Holy Scriptures, nor found decreed in the councils of the bish- 
ops, nor confirmed by the custom of the universal Church, but 
which vary without end through the different fashions of differ- 
ent places, while the causes which have induced men to insti- 
tute them can seldom or never be discovered, all such, in my 
opinion, should be cut off without any hesitation, where there 
is the power. For although it can not be found that they are 
against the faith, yet they oppress with servile burdens that re- 
ligion which the mercy of God designed to be free in very few 
and most manifest sacraments of public celebration ; so that the 
condition of the Jews is more tolerable, who, although they ac- 
knowledged not the time of liberty, are yet subjected to legal 
burdens, and not to human superstitions." — (App., Note 88.) 

Here we have a most instructive intimation of the 
innovating spirit of that age which so many imagine 
to have been perfectly pure, immaculate, and apostol- 
ical. The precepts of the Bible were neglected, while 
the inventions of men, without authority, the offspring 
of superstition, were observed with punctilious devo- 
tion. And so numerous and firmly established had 
these novelties already become, that Augustin himself 
was deterred from reproving them as plainly as they 
deserved, lest he might be exposed to scandal and re- 
proach, not only from the lovers of disorder, but from 
some of the pious also. True, he does not consider 
that they were absolutely against the faith ; but their 
tendency was hostile to it, since it is manifest that 
although the form of the faith might remain, yet the 
principle of faith was sure to suffer when the fancies 
of men began to be more reverenced than the precepts 
of God. It is totally impossible that the Gospel of 
Christ should take effectual root in any heart which 
fails to regard the Scriptures with supreme veneration. 



134 SOCRATES. [CHAP. X. 



CHAPTER X. 

TESTIMONY OF THE ORIENTAL CHURCH. 

The sixteenth witness against the delusive system 
of the Romish confessional is one whose evidence is 
particularly interesting ; and I shall cite it at large, 
as worthy of serious attention, since it presents the 
views of the Oriental Church upon the subject in a 
manner that ought to be conclusive, and on the un- 
questionable authority of Socrates, the ecclesiastical 
historian. 

" At this time" (viz., A.D. 390) "it was resolved to abolish 
the office of the presbyters who presided over penitence, and 
that for the following cause. After the Novatians had with- 
drawn themselves from the Church, because they were unwill- 
ing to communicate with those who had lapsed during the De- 
cian persecution, from that time the bishops added a presbyter 
of penitences to the ecclesiastical roll, in order that those who 
should sin after baptism might confess their sins before the 
presbyter appointed over that matter. And this rule remains 
among the other sects until now. Only the Homoousians, and 
those Novatians who agree in faith with them, have cast aside 
the presbyter appointed over penitences ; for the Novatians 
truly, from the first, did not admit this addition. And the Ho- 
moousians, who now hold the churches, after they had retained 
this arrangement for a long while, at length abolished it in the 
time of the Bishop Nectarius, on account of a certain crime 
which had been committed in the Church. A certain noble 
woman, coming to the presbyter of penitence, confessed, one 
by one, the sins which she had committed after baptism. And 
the presbyter ordered her to use fastings and continual prayers 
for a season, by which she might exhibit, together with the con- 
fession of her sins, the work meet for repentance. In process 
of time the woman confessed another crime, namely, that a 
deacon of the Church was in the habit of committing fornica- 






CHAP. X.] SOZOMEN. 135 

tion with her. When she had declared this, the deacon, in- 
deed, was cast out of the Church, but the people began to be 
greatly excited ; for not only were they indignant on account 
of the crime itself, but also because of the stain and infamy 
brought upon the Church in consequence. When, therefore, 
on this account, the clergy were assailed with jests, a certain 
presbyter, named Eudaemon, a native of Alexandria, persuaded 
the Bishop Nectarius that he should abolish the office of pres- 
byter of penitence, and suffer every one to come to the com- 
munion at his own will, in the conscientious exercise of his dis- 
cretion ; for otherwise it was not possible that the Church 
should be free from all opprobrium." — (App., Note 89.) 

The testimony of Sozomen, another ecclesiastical 
historian, whom I shall set down as my seventeenth 
witness, corresponds with that of Socrates, and it may 
be as well to quote his statement also. 

"At the same time, Nectarius, the bishop of Constantinople, 
first took away from the Church the presbyter who was placed 
over the penitents, whose example almost all the bishops 
afterward followed. What this was, and what was its origin, 
and for what reason it was taken away, others, indeed, may 
perhaps narrate differently. But I will say what I think. 
Since not to sin at all, belongs to a certain divine nature, supe- 
rior to humanity, and God commands us to pardon penitents, 
even if they often sin ; since, too, in asking forgiveness, it is 
necessary to confess the sin: it was justly esteemed by the 
priests, from the beginning, a serious and burdensome thing, 
that a man should divulge his crimes before the multitude of 
the whole Church, standing round as in a theater. Therefore 
they placed over this matter one of the presbyters who was 
most respectable for integrity of life, and excelled in taciturnity 
and prudence, to whom those that sinned came and confessed 
their deeds. And he, after pointing out, by way of punish- 
ment, what it was fitting they should severally either do or 
suffer, each for his own sin, absolved those who confessed, who 
were to exact from themselves the punishments of their crimes. 
But the Novatians, who have no rule of penitence, had no need 
of this arrangement. With the other sects, however, this cus- 
tom remains to this day. In the Western Churches, however, 
and especially in the Roman Church, this custom is studiously 
observed. For there, in the open air, is a place for penitents, 
in which they stand sorrowful, and as if mourning. The so- 



136 sozomen. [chap. X. 

lemnities of the mass being ended, they who had been ex- 
cluded from the communion of the mysteries which it is the 
custom to offer to the initiated, cast themselves prone on the 
ground with groaning and lamentations. Then the bishop, 
coming to them with tears, prostrates himself on the earth also, 
and the whole multitude of the Church, confessing together, is 
dissolved in tears. After this the bishop rises first, and lifts up 
the prostrate. But every one, in private, voluntarily macera- 
ting himself, either with fastings, or dirt, or abstinence, or in 
any other ways which may have been prescribed, waits the 
time fixed for him by the bishop. And when the day fixed ar- 
rives, as if a certain debt had been paid, he is freed from the 
punishment of his iniquity, and associated with the other mem- 
bers of the Church. These customs are kept by the bishops of 
the city of Rome from the earliest period even to our own age. 
But in the Church of Constantinople a presbyter was appointed 
to preside over the penitents. Until a certain noble matron, on 
account of the sins which she had confessed, being ordered by 
this presbyter to fast, and pray humbly to God, while for this 
purpose she remained in the Church, gave herself up to forni- 
cation with a deacon. The fact being known, all the people 
were inflamed with indignation, on account of the reproach 
brought against the Church, and the no small opprobrium to 
which the clergy were exposed. But Nectarius, after he had 
doubted much and long what was to be done in this emergency, 
displaced from the diaconate the man who had committed the 
fornication. And when some gave him counsel that he should 
grant liberty to every one, according as each individual was 
conscious of his own state, and had confidence in himself, to 
come to the communion of the holy mysteries, he abolished 
the office of the presbyter who had presided over penitence. 
And from that time this has remained firm and established ; the 
old way, with the gravity and severity connected with it, being, 
as I think, by degrees fallen off into a loose and dissolute mode 
of living. For before this, as it seems to me, sins were less, as 
well on account of the shamefacedness of those who confessed 
their iniquities, as by reason of the severity of the judges who 
were appointed for that matter." — (App., Note 90.) 

Now the testimony of these two concurrent wit- 
nesses seems quite conclusive on the following points, 
viz. : 

1. That the Oriental Christians introduced the plan 



CHAP. X.] THE ORIENTAL SYSTEM, 137 

of private confession to the penitentiary presbyter at 
the end of the third century, for they expressly date 
it after the Decian persecution, and the rise of the 
Novatian schism. 

2. That it was not like the more modern practice 
of the Romanists, because the facts of the case on 
account of which it was abolished prove that the 
penitentiary priest was expected to order all gross sins 
to be confessed openly ; whereas, had he been enjoin- 
ed (according to the system of the Church of Rome) 
to keep them secret, the scandal which made so much 
trouble could not have arisen. This is the only view 
of the matter which can account, in my mind, for the 
abolition of the office. 

3. That at that time, A.D. 390, no such arrange- 
ment for private confession was known in the Western 
Churches, because Sozomen expressly contrasts their 
custom with that of the East, and describes the order 
of the Roman Church minutely and particularly, evi- 
dently for the purpose of showing the difference be- 
tween them. And this is the more worthy of note, 
as it is manifest that he disapproved the judgment of 
Nectarius, and thought the institution of the private 
penitentiary priest had better been continued ; and 
therefore he would naturally have strengthened his 
own opinion by stating that the practice of the West- 
ern Church accorded with the system of his choice, 
if he could have done so without violating the truth 
of history. 

4. That the abolition of the private confessor by 
the bishop of Constantinople, and the ready concur- 
rence of " almost all" the other Eastern bishops, at 
this first instance of scandal arising against the cler- 
gy, proves positively their conviction that the plan 
was nothing more than a human device, adopted at 



138 THE ORIENTAL SYSTEM. [CHAP. X. 

iirst on the ground of expediency, and which, there- 
fore, the experience of its inexpediency was a suffi- 
cient reason for doing away. 

5. That of course they had no idea of its being 
connected with the true administration of the keys 
of the church, which remained perfectly secure, on 
the old basis of apostolic authority. 

6. That in allowing every member of the Church 
to come to the communion at his own discretion, with- 
out any private consultation with the priest, they be- 
lieved that they were only laying aside a dangerous 
innovation, and returning to the primitive rule. For 
otherwise, so sudden a change in discipline would 
hardly have been ordered by Nectarius, without the 
consent of a Council. 

The attempt of Baronius to cast discredit on the 
testimony of Socrates, on the ground that he was one 
of the Novatians, only proves how conscious he was 
that the narrative is utterly hostile to the Romish 
assumption. But his statement is rejected by many 
learned and distinguished writers belonging to the 
papal communion, particularly by the eminent Vale- 
sius, who shows conclusively that there is no author- 
ity whatever for the imputation. Nor is it to be be- 
lieved that two ecclesiastical historians, whose works 
have come down with credit to the present times, 
would have fabricated such a falsehood concerning a 
matter that happened in their own day, which must, 
from the nature of the case, have been perfectly no- 
torious, and where a misrepresentation could only 
have served to call down upon themselves a storm of 
indignation, as wanton libellers of their Church and 
of their clergy. 

My next evidence is furnished by a very celebrated 
personage, Chrysostom, the orator of the " golden 



CHAP. X.] CHRYSOSTOM. 139 

mouth," who succeeded Nectarius as patriarch of 
Constantinople. And his doctrine on the subject of 
repentance was precisely like our own, of which he 
has left so much on record that a volume might be 
extracted from his works, repeating the same sub- 
stantial truth in a hundred forms. The following ex- 
tracts will put the reader sufficiently in possession of 
his system, which was the system of all the Oriental 
churches of his day : 

" He who, being corrected, hath deplored his sin, even while 
he wept, hath obtained pardon ; for our compassionate Judge is 
contented with our tears alone." — (App., Note 91.) 

"Let us confess to Him a manifold confession. . . . Taking up 
the cry of the publican, who smote upon his breast and did not 
boast, like the Pharisee :... . What, then, did he say? Bemer- 
ciful to me a sinner. Did he declare his sins in detail to God, as 
if He did not know them? Or could this flagitious publican, 
guilty of all that was evil, retain in his memory every thing com- 
mitted by him since his birth? But he spake collectively and 
comprehensively, and exclaimed, There is nothing good in me 
which I can set forth, but I feel that I am all evil : I will con- 
fess to thee, the good God, who dost not punish those who con- 
fess, but deliverest those who flee to thee : be merciful to me 
a sinner. Let no one despair on account of his sins, let no one 
presume on his own merits." — (App., Note 92.) 

" When the Lord justifies, who can condemn ? For Nathan 
said not to David, Wherefore /grant, but ' The Lord,'' saith he, 
l hath taken away thy sin.' And after these words, the prophet 
went to his house." — (App., Note 93.) 

" And thou, O David, forasmuch as thou didst commit adul- 
tery and murder, so thou didst repent and gain remission from 
God. For which reason thou publishest thyself, that whoever 
is an adulterer or a homicide, may learn that if, being convert- 
ed, he should repent, he may obtain salvation." — (App., Note 
94.) 

The beautiful homily of the publican and the Phar- 
isee presents the doctrine of Chrysostom throughout 
in a most interesting manner. The following ex- 
tract from it will suffice to show his views of con- 



140 CHRYSOSTOM. [CHAP. X. 

fession, both in its private form and in its public dis- 
cipline : 

" I do not lead thee to a theater of thy fellow-servants, nor 
do I compel thee to declare thy sins to men. Expose thy con- 
science to God ; to Him show thy deeds and thy wounds, and 
from Him seek thy medicine. Exhibit thyself not to him who 
reproaches, but to Him who heals. For even if thou art silent, 
He knows all things." — (App., Note 95.) 

To estimate aright the force and frequency of 
Chrysostom's appeals on the subject of true and 
heart-felt penitence, we must remember that he was 
the successor of that Nectarius who had lately abol- 
ished the office of the penitentiary priest, and left ev- 
ery one free to come to the communion upon his own 
personal responsibility. There were some, as we find 
from Socrates and Sozomen, who disapproved this re- 
turn to the primitive simplicity, and therefore Chry- 
sostom, who appears to have cordially maintained it, 
loses no opportunity of explaining the subject in its 
real scriptural character, constantly endeavoring to 
bring his hearers to the Lord, and proving to them 
that it was with the great Searcher of hearts they 
had to do in the whole work of confession and for- 
giveness. 

Our last three testimonies were from the Oriental 
Church, and now I return to the Western, in order to 
place before the reader some passages from the writ- 
ings of Prosper of Aquitaine, who was distinguished 
as the follower of Augustin, in opposing the Pelagian 
heresy. 

" Sweet to the Lord is the conversation of him that unfolds 
himself through an humble confession to God who knoweth, and 
to whom God reveals Himself as to one that knoweth not ; and 
delight is the fruit of this conversation, for confession profits not 
when it is offered by him who glorifies himself, but when it is 
made to glorify God."— {App., Note 96.) 

«° These things are uttered in the person of those who, be- 



CHAP. X.] PROSPER. 141 

ing converted, pray for pardon ; and their examples are com- 
memorated, towards whom, though likewise sinners, the rich 
mercy of God has been manifest. Therefore this Psalm begins, 
like the other, Confess ye to the Lord : but there the words fol- 
low, And call upon His name ; while here it is said, For He is 
good, because His mercy endureth forever. The confession of 
sinners, then, includes the praise of God ; since he who seeks 
indulgence, ought to pray with hope, and with the praise of that 
mercy which he believes to be eternal." — (App., Note 97.) 

" The grandeur of the Lord toward us appears in this, that 
He justifies the sinner confessing without any preceding merits : 
that where sin hath abounded, grace may the more abound ; by 
which grace confession itself is excited, that no one may be 
raised up in his own esteem, but that he who glories may glory 
in the Lord. For the confession of the sinner and the grandeur 
of the justification are both the work of GoS." — (App., Note 98.) 

*« The confession of sin is good if the cure follows. For what 
doth it profit to uncover the wound, and not to apply the medi- 
cine?" — (App., Note 99.) 

" The confession of the penitent is most available with the 
mercy of God, whom the sinner, by confessing, renders propi- 
tious; whom, by denying, he can not make ignorant." — [App., 
Note 100.) 

" He runs well toward the remission of his sins who dis- 
pleases himself. For with our just and merciful Judge, he who 
accuses himself, excuses." — (App., Note 101.) 

" Let the sinner forgive the sinner, and he will conciliate the 
Lord to show him equal favor. His judgment depends on our 
examination. What we sow, we reap ; what we give, we re- 
ceive."— (App., Note 102.) 

Thus we have advanced to the middle of the fifth 
century without meeting the slightest authority for 
the Romish confessional ; the nearest approach to it 
being the Oriental practice, commenced toward the 
end of the third, and abolished, by general consent, 
on the authority of Nectarius, near the close of the 
fourth century. But now we come to an important 
step in a new direction, taken by the eloquent and 
popular Pope Leo the Great ; and with this I shall 
commence the next chapter. 



142 LEO THE GREAT. [CHAP. XI. 



CHAPTER XL 

LATER LATIN FATHERS. 

The primitive age of zealous purity and stringent 
discipline in the Church had passed away when the 
eminent Leo the Great became the Bishop or Pope 
of Rome. He found it difficult, and perhaps, as he 
supposed, impossible to bring back the ancient rules 
to their practical e'fficiency. He had, doubtless, been 
acquainted with the plan adopted in the Oriental 
Churches, and which, though now abandoned by them, 
was yet believed by some to have worked well for 
almost a century. And he seems to have thought 
that the introduction of a similar plan at Rome would 
relieve him from many difficulties, while yet he was 
conscious that it would not be more likely to endure 
at Rome than at Constantinople, unless it were so 
modified as to prevent the danger of public exposures 
on the one hand, and to increase the submission of 
the people to the priesthood on the other. Let us 
see, therefore, the terms in which this innovation was 
recommended by the authority of Leo. 

« The manifold mercy of God so aids the lapses of humani- 
ty, that not only through the grace of baptism, but also through 
the medicine of penitence, the hope of eternal life is repaired, 
so that those who have violated the gifts of regeneration, con- 
demning themselves by their own judgment, may arrive at the 
forgiveness of their crimes ; the guards of the divine goodness 
being so ordered, that the pardon of God can not be obtained 
without the supplications of the priests. For the Mediator of 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus, delivered this power to 
the presiding officers of the Church, that they should both pre- 



CHAP. XI.] LEO THE GREAT. 143 

scribe the act of penitence to those who confessed their sins, 
and when they were purged by wholesome satisfaction, should 
admit them to the communion of the sacraments by the door 
of reconciliation .... For it is very useful and necessary that the 
guilt of sinners should be absolved by sacerdotal supplication 
before the last day." — (App., Note 103.) 

" That presumption, also, against the apostolic rule, which, 
as I have lately heard, has been displayed by certain persons 
through illegal usurpation, I determine to have by all means 
suppressed, so that the confession of the kind of sins committed 
by individuals should not be published written in a little book, 
since it suffices that the guilt of their consciences be 

MADE KNOWN TO THE PRIESTS ONLY, IN SECRET CONFESSION. 

For although the plenitude of faith may seem to be laudable, 
which, on account of the terror of God, does not fear to blush 
before men, yet inasmuch as the sins of all are not of such a 
kind that those who ask for penitence are not afraid to publish 
them, let so unreasonable a custom be done away : lest many 
should be repelled from the remedies of penitence, either be- 
cause they are ashamed, or because they fear that their deeds 
may be disclosed to their enemies, through whom they may be 
subjected to a legal prosecution. For that confession is enough, 
which is offered to God in the first place, and then to the 
priest also, who intercedes as a suppliant for the sins of the 
penitent. And thus, finally, many may be stirred up to peni- 
tence, if the conscience of him who makes confession is not 
published in the ears of the people." — [Ajpp. y Note 104.) 

Here, then, we see a direct blow given to the old 
system of public penitence ; and the ground taken by 
Augustin, that secret sins should be rebuked secret- 
ly, is now extended in favor of the priestly preroga- 
tive on the one hand, and in favor of the fast grow- 
ing dislike to public confession by the guilty on the 
other. But still the change, though very important, 
was only the first authoritative beginning of the new 
system. As yet, there was no law that all must 
confess to the priests before they could receive the 
communion. Neither do we hear, as yet, of any ab- 
solution distinct from the administration of the com- 
munion office. Nor were penitents in the Church 



144 GREGORY THE GREAT. [CHAP. XI. 

of Rome absolved first, and required to perform their 
penitential exercises afterward. Nor was there any 
attempt to order a priestly inquisition into the secret 
thoughts of those who. came to confession. Nor were 
acts of penance enjoined by the priest, boldly pro- 
nounced to be a satisfaction to the justice of the 
Deity. Nor was the absolution of the priest extend- 
ed beyond the language of prayer, that God would 
mercifully pardon and absolve the sinner. All these 
were the gradual work of future ages, as we shall 
see by and by. 

My next evidence shall be taken from the writings 
of another eminent pope, Gregory I., surnamed, like- 
wise, the Great, and particularly celebrated for hav- 
ing sent the monk Augustin to convert the Saxons, 
for opposing the title of universal bishop assumed by 
the patriarch of Constantinople, and for having la- 
bored to give what he supposed to be a better form to 
the music and the worship of the Church. My ex- 
tracts will be numerous, and I trust they will prove 
interesting ; but at least they will show that the con- 
fessional in the time of Gregory was far from the 
present standard of Romish doctrine, notwithstanding 
the wide departure which had taken place from the 
early discipline, as it was administered in the days of 
Tertullian and Cyprian. Referring to the authority 
committed to the apostles, Gregory saith : 

" Of these, truly, the bishops, who have been chosen to the 
office of governors, now hold in the Church the power of bind- 
ing and loosing. . . . But frequently it happens that the bishop, in 
binding and loosing his subjects, follows the motions of his own 
will, and not the merits of the causes. And hence it is that he 
deprives himself of this power of binding and loosing, because 
he exercises it not according to the morals of his subjects, but 
at his own will." 

" Therefore the causes must be weighed, and then the pow- 



CHAP. XI.] GREGORY THE GREAT. 145 

er of binding and loosing is to be exercised. He must see what 
guilt has gone before, or what penitence has followed the crime, 
that those whom the omnipotent God visits through the grace 
of compunction, the sentence of the pastor may absolve ; for 
then the absolution of the bishop is valid when it follows the 
sentence of the internal Judge. This is well signified by the 
resurrection of that man who had been four days dead, which 
manifestly demonstrates that the Lord first called and quick- 
ened, saying, Lazarus, come forth; and afterward, he who had 
come forth alive was loosed by the disciples, as it is written : 
And when he came forth who had been tied with bands, then He 
said to His disciples, Loose him and let him go. Behold, the 
disciples loose him who was already living, whom their Master 
had raised from the dead. For if the disciples should loose a 
dead Lazarus, they would exhibit an evil odor rather than pow- 
er. From which consideration we may perceive that we ought 
to loose, by our pastoral authority, those whom we perceive that 
our Master has quickened by his awakening grace — . These 
things concerning the order of absolution I have briefly de- 
clared, that the pastors of the Church may take heed to loose 
or to bind with great discretion." — (App., Note 105.) 

" But we can not worthily exercise penitence unless we un- 
derstand also the manner of its exercise ; for to exercise peni- 
tence is both to bewail the evils we have perpetrated, and not 
to perpetrate again what we have bewailed. Since he who de- 
plores his other misdeeds in such a manner that he neverthe- 
less commits the same things again, either feigns penitence or 
is ignorant of its true nature." — (App., Note 106.) 

Now this doctrine of Gregory, if the Church of 
Rome could have remained content with it, would at 
least have been comparatively innocent and safe, since 
he here plainly shows that the bishops had no power to 
absolve the sinner, unless in those cases where Christ 
himself had already given life to the soul. But the 
next extract exhibits yet more strongly the contrast be- 
tween his teaching and that of the Council of Trent. 

A certain noble lady, named Gregoria, having de- 
sired that the pope would ask for a revelation to as- 
sure her that her sins were forgiven, he makes this 
pious and sensible reply : 

G 



146 GREGORY THE GREAT. [cHAP. XI. 

"In that which thy Sweetness has added in thy letters, im- 
portuning me to write that a revelation has been made to me, 
assuring thee of the remission of thy sins, thou hast asked a 
thing not only difficult, but useless. Difficult, truly, because I 
am unworthy to receive such a revelation ; and useless, be- 
cause thou oughtest not to be made secure concerning thy sins, 
lest thou shouldst not be able to continue lamenting them to 
the last day of thy life. Assuredly, Paul the Apostle had al- 
ready ascended to the third heaven ; he had also been led into 
paradise ; he had heard mysterious words which it was not law- 
ful for man to utter; and yet, still trembling, he said, I chasten 
my body and subject it to servitude, lest, perhaps, after preach- 
ing to others, I should myself become a reprobate. Does he still 
fear who is already led to heaven, and is he not willing to fear 
who is yet conversant on earth ? Consider maturely, most sweet 
daughter, that security is usually the mother of negligence. 
Therefore, in this life thou oughtest not to have security by 
which thou mightest be made negligent. For it is written, 
Blessed is the man who is always fearful."— {App., Note 107.) 

How perfectly opposed is this to the Catechism of 
Trent ! For there the Church of Rome teaches that, 
in order " to calm our solicitude, the Redeemer insti- 
tuted the sacrament of penance, in which we cherish 
a well-grounded hope that our sins are forgiven us by 
the absolution of the priest, and the faith which we 
justly have in the efficacy of the sacraments has much 
influence in tranquilizing the troubled conscience, and 
giving peace to the soul. The voice of the priest, 
who is legitimately constituted a minister for the re- 
mission of sins, is to be heard as that of Christ him- 
self who said to the lame man, Son, be of good cheer, 
thy sins are forgiven thee."^ 

When Gregory the Great wrote to his noble cor- 
respondent that she could not have a revelation, and 
that she ought not to feel secure, how little idea had 
he of the marvelous change which a few centuries 
would accomplish in the doctrine of the Roman Con- 
fessional ! 

* See page 18. 



CHAP. XI.] FORMS OF ABSOLUTION. 147 

In the same strain, however, this eminent pontiff 
states the true quality of absolution constantly. Thus, 
in a letter to the Proconsul Marcellus, he writes as 
follows : 

" And since you have asked that our absolution may be given 
you, it is fitting that you should satisfy our Redeemer with tears 
and the whole intention of your mind for these things, as duty 
requires ; because, if He be not satisfied, what can our indul- 
gence or pardon confer?" — (Apy)., Note 108.) 

One short extract more, and I shall close this writ- 
er's testimony. 

" To exercise penitence truly, is to bewail what we have com- 
mitted, and TO AVOID REPEATING what ought to be bewail- 
ed."— (4pp., Note 109.) 

Happy would it have been for the Christian world 
if the Western Church had remained firm at the point 
to which this matter had arrived in the age of the first 
Gregory. True, the ancient discipline at Rome had 
been, to a considerable degree, supplanted by private 
confession, and the penitent, in general, was only 
obliged to fulfill the secret directions of the priest in 
order to be restored. But still there was no enforce- 
ment of confession, and no inquisition of the thoughts ; 
neither was there any obligation that all must confess 
preparatory to the sacrament ; nor was the absolution 
in the indicative form, " I absolve thee," but in the 
form of prayer ; nor had the priests dared to place 
themselves in the tribunal of their divine Master, by 
representing their judgment as the voice of Christ 
himself, according to the Trentine Catechism. 

It may be well, however, to show still further the 
actual state of the matter during the age of Gregory, 
by some extracts from the forms of absolution, taken 
from the Liber Sacrament or um of this famous pontiff. 

" Hear, O Lord, our prayers, and spare the sins of those who 
confess to thee ; that those whom the guilt of their conscience 



148 ISIDORE OF KISPALA. [CHAP. XI. 

accuses, the indulgence of thy mercy may absolve. Through the 
Lord."— (App., Note 110.) 

A second form is in these words : 

** Let thy mercy prevent" (i. e., go before) " this thy servant, 
we beseech thee, O Lord ; that all his iniquities may be blotted 
out by speedy forgiveness. Through the Lord." — {App., Note 
111.) 

A third form was used in reconciling the penitent, 

as follows : 

" Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to this thy servant, fruit 
worthy of penitence, that to thy holy Church, from whose in- 
tegrity he has deviated by sinning, he may be restored blame- 
less of the misdeeds he has confessed, by obtaining pardon. 
Through our Lord."— {App., Note 112.) 

There are several curious and interesting examples 
of confession in the notes and observations of the 
learned Benedictine, Hugo Menard, appended to the 
Sacramentary of Gregory. But as they belong to a 
later period, I shall reserve them until I have consid- 
ered the testimony of our next witness, Isidore, the 
bishop of Hispala. His evidence is important, not 
only because he was a man of great influence and 
piety, who expressed his opinions with remarkable 
clearness and precision, but also because his diocese, 
being in Spain, will afford us another variety in our 
sphere of investigation. The following extracts will 
place the reader in possession of his doctrine : 

"Penitence is so called as if from punishment, because by it 
a man may punish in himself the evil he has committed ; for 
those who repent truly do nothing else but this — that they do 
not suffer their misdeeds to go unpunished." 

" And satisfaction is to exclude the causes and suggestions 
of sins, and not to commit them any more." 

" But reconciliation is that which is performed after the peni- 
tence is fulfilled." 

»« Exomologesis is from a Greek word, which in Latin signi- 
fies confession; of which word there is a two-fold signification. 
For confession is understood either as a form of praise, as 



CHAP. XI.] ISIDORE OF HISPALA. 149 

where it is written, I will confess to thee, O Father, Lord of 
heaven and earth ; or when each one confesses his sins, in 
order to be forgiven by Him whose mercy is unfailing. From 
this Greek word, therefore, the term Exomologesis is com- 
monly used to express the act in which we confess our guilt to 
the Lord." 

" Moreover, the confession of error is the profession of dis- 
continuance And confession goes before, remission follows; 

but he is without pardon who knows his sin, and refuses to con- 
fess it. Therefore, Exomologesis is the discipline of prostra- 
tion and humiliation, in garments and in food, to lie in sackcloth 
and ashes, to defile the body with dirt, to abase the mind with 
sorrow." — (App., Note 113.) 

" And this penitence is according to the quality of our of- 
fenses ; for as lighter sins are blotted out by secret prayer, so 
weighty sins are remitted before the Church through penitence 
and satisfaction." — (App., Note 114.) 

I have marked some further extracts from this 
author, which may exhibit his testimony yet more 
plainly. 

" Penitence takes its name from punishment, by which the 
soul is tortured and the flesh is mortified. And, therefore, 
they who exercise penitence allow their hair and their beard 
to grow, that they may show" (by this emblem) " the abund- 
ance of those crimes by which the head of the sinner is weigh- 
ed down .... That they must prostrate themselves in sackcloth 
(for sackcloth is a memorial of sins), is in allusion to the goats 
which shall be at the left hand of the Saviour. Hence, there- 
fore, they who confess lie prostrate in sackcloth, and are 
sprinkled with ashes, to remind them that they are dust and 

ashes The Catholic Church confidently enjoins this remedy 

of penitence to exercise men in the hope of pardon after the 
one Sacrament of Baptism, which, in accordance with a re- 
markable tradition, she carefully prohibits from being repeated, 
and substitutes the aid of penitence as a medicinal remedy. . . . 
Only the dignity of honor is preserved, so that penitence is 
performed by the priests and Levites in the presence of God 
alone; but by the others with the priest standing solemnly be- 
fore God, that a fruitful confession may cover whatever our 
rash appetite or the neglect of ignorance is known to have con- 
tracted ; for, as in baptism all iniquities are remitted, and as 
we believe that sin is imputed to no one who suffers martyrdom, 



150 ISIDORE OF HISPALA. [dlAP. XI. 

in like manner, by the fruitful compunction of penitence, we may 
acknowledge all sins to be done away. For the tears of peni- 
tents with God are reckoned for baptism." — (App., Note 115.) 

"Although, through penitence, there is a propitiation for sins, 
yet no man ought to be without fear, because the satisfaction 
of the penitent is to be estimated not by human, but only by the 
divine judgment. For this reason, since the mercy of God is 
secret, it is necessary to weep without intermission. Nor, in- 
deed, is it right that the penitent should ever have security 
concerning his sins; for security produces negligence, and neg- 
ligence often brings the incautious back to his old transgressions." 
(App., Note 116.) 

"It is impossible that the sins of that man can be remitted 
who does not forgive the trespasses committed against himself. 
For God has justly made our own state the type of his indul- 
gence to us, when he orders us to pray thus : Forgive us our 
debts, as we also forgive our debtors. 1 '' — {App., Note 117.) 

In this interesting evidence of Isidore we may ob- 
serve a complete contrariety to the modern Romish 
system in several particulars. 

1. That penitence is defined to be a punishment, 
self-inflicted) for our sins, according to the idea of 
Augustin. I have already stated my reasons for con- 
sidering this an error ; but, at all events, it proves that 
it had no relation to the penance imposed at the dic- 
tate of the priest, of which the Catechism of Trent 
says so much, while Isidore says nothing. 

2. That satisfaction is defined to be, not the per- 
formance of a penance prescribed by the priest as a 
compensation to the justice of God, according to the 
Catechism of Trent, but the forsaking- of the sins of 
which we have professed repentance. 

3. That reconciliation, according to Isidore, comes 
after the fulfillment of penitence, whereas the modern 
Church of Rome absolves the penitent first, and ex- 
pects him to fulfill his penitential works afterward. 

4. That Isidore, like Augustin, mentions only two 
kinds of penitence, one private, for venial sins, and 



CHAP. XII.] FORMS OF CONFESSION. 151 

the other public, before the Church (not the priest 
only), without any reference to auricular confession. 
5. That the judgment of the priest was not then 
supposed to be the ''voice of Christ," and therefore 
the penitent was told that he must sorrow to the close 
of life, because "the mercy of God was secret," and 
he could only hope, but without being perfectly sure, 
that he was forgiven. In this we have already seen 
that Gregory the Great agreed with him. But both 
are in plain contrariety to the Council of Trent, not- 
withstanding the Church of Rome would have us be- 
lieve that she is infallible and unchangeable ! 



CHAPTER XII. 

ANCIENT FORMS OF CONFESSION- 

The learned Benedictine, Hugo Menard, in his Ap- 
pendix to the Sacramentary of Gregory the Great, 
has paid particular attention to the forms of confes- 
sion made by penitents from the sixth to the ninth 
century, in which it is worthy of note, first, that the 
confession is addressed to God alone, and not, as in 
the modern usage of Rome, to the Virgin and the 
saints also. And, secondly, that there is no specifi- 
cation of any sin, but a general acknowledgment of 
all sorts of iniquity. The extracts which I shall place 
before the reader will be acceptable, I trust, not only 
as exhibiting the progress of the system during those 
ages, but likewise as being a curious monument of 
antiquity. I quote the language of Menard, trans- 



152 FOEMS OF CONFESSION. [cHAP. XII. 

lated from the original, the first formulary being taken 
by him from the old Ordo Romanus, as follows : 

"I confess to thee, O Lord of heaven and earth, and to thee, 
O good and most benignant Jesus, together with the Holy Ghost, 
before thy holy angels and before thy saints, before this altar 
and thy priest, that I have been conceived in sins, and born in 
sins, and brought up in sins, and have been conversant with sins 
from my baptism to the present hour. I confess, also, that I 
have sinned exceedingly in pride, in vain-glory, by self-exalta- 
tion in looks, in vesture, and in all my actions, in envy, in ha- 
tred, in covetousness of honor as well as money, in anger, in 
sloth, in gluttony, in sodomitish licentiousness, in sacrilege, 
&c. A similar form appears in the work of Goldastus, as in 
use among the ancient Germans." — {App., Note 118.) 

" The confession of S. Isidore, the bishop of Hispala, is also 
extant, recorded by Redemtus, one of his clergy, when, at the 
approach of death, he confessed openly in the house of S. Vin- 
cent ; and this also is only general, expressing nothing in par- 
ticular."— {App., Note 119.) 

" There is likewise extant the confession of Rotbert, bish- 
op, sent in writing, just before his death, to the bishops who 
were at the siege of Angers with the Emperor Charles the 
Bald ; in which, also, he confesses no special crime, but only 
professes himself to be an abominable and execrable sinner." 
—{App., Note 120.) 

«• In a very ancient manuscript of the Library at Corbie, the 
title of which is Ordo Orationum, appears the confession of S. 
Fulgentius," which is subjoined at length, viz. : 

'•'■Here begins the Confession of S. Fulgentius, Bishop, for the 
work of Penitence : 
" I confess to thee, O Lord, Father of heaven and earth, be- 
fore this thy holy altar, and the relics of this place, and before 
this thy priest, all my sins, and all things whatsoever the com- 
passion of God brings to mind of shameful thoughts, or idle and 
unclean words, and all that I have done against His command- 
ment. I confess, likewise, all the vices of my heart and body, 
sacrilege, envyings, detractions, perjuries, thefts, evil-speakings, 
reproaches, foul speeches, scurrilities, lies, mockings, insults, 
deceits, murmurings, flatteries, moroseness, vigils useless and 
despicable before God, most grievous carnal lusts ; and that I 
have set forth the precepts of God for the sake of the pamper- 
ing and gratification of my own body, and have trangressed 



CHAP. XII.] CONFESSION OF FULGENTIUS. 153 

through pride and self-exaltation, and negligence and sloth. I 
have perpetrated unclean purposes, and have committed for- 
nications, pollutions, licentiousness, drunkenness, revelings, and 
homicides, openly and secretly, in body and in mind. To my 
father and my mother, my brothers and sisters, my uncles, 
aunts and cousins, or all other my kindred and relations, I have 
not exhibited the obedience of honor according to the command- 
ment and will of God. To the carnal old man, and to those 
who were friends for evil more than for good, I have listened 
and been submissive. I have not loved all Christians as God 
hath commanded. I have offered and displayed at all times to 
others, not a good but an evil lesson and example. I have not 
observed nor kept worthily and acceptably unto God the Sun- 
days and Saints' days; and I have not announced them to the 
ignorant, but I have defiled myself in them by intemperance 
and wantonness, and have incited others to the same. Robbery 
and theft I have hidden and partaken, and have consented to 
those who concealed them. I have not visited those who were 
sick and in prison. I have not covered the naked. I have not 
received strangers for the sake of God, nor washed their feet. 
I have not filled the hungry. I have not consoled the weeping 
and the sorrowful ; those who were in open discord, and indeed 
all Christians, I have incited to anger rather than to peace. I 
confess that I have sinned much in seeing, in hearing, in tast- 
ing, in smelling, and in feeling ; and I have conceived and per- 
petrated many evil things. I confess that in the holy Church 
I have thought much evil, and have spoken indiscreetly and 
proudly. In the holy Church I have stood, I have sat, I have 
kissed, I have beheld, I have covered, I have lain, I have con- 
sented. The holy vessels and every holy service, I have touched 
when polluted. I have been defiled with unlawful embraces. 
And upon the holy altar, and in the consecrated Church, and 
on the blessed cross, and upon the holy relics, I have sworn ; 
and I have uttered perjured words and lies, and have commit- 
ted perjury. I confess, also, that to thee, the Omnipotent God, 
and to all the saints, and to all good men, I have been disobe- 
dient, and within and without I have been unfaithful and offens- 
ive ; contentious, hateful, envious, wrathful, avaricious, covet- 
ous, rapacious, unbelieving, unmerciful. And I have offered 
my prayer in the sight of God negligently, by reason of vain 
thoughts and a hard heart. The body and blood of the Lord I 
have received knowingly and unworthily, with my heart and 
body polluted, without confession and penitence. I have not 
G 2 



154 CONFESSION OF FULGENTIUS. [CHAP. XII. 

loved the Bishops, the worthy Abbots, the Monks, the Canons, 
and all the Clergy of the Church of God. I have not regarded 
them with affection, nor rendered them the obedience of hon- 
or, as God hath commanded. By carnal desires, and by evil 
thoughts, and by an evil will, and by evil works, I have contam- 
inated, disgraced, and destroyed myself, and in will have con- 
sented to the devil. On account of all these and other things 
innumerable, which, by reason of the multitude of my sins, 
crimes, and iniquities, I am not able to remember ; and because, 
against the will of God and of all the Saints, and against the 
Christian law, I have done and perpetrated them with a hard 
heart, whether ignorantly or knowingly, whether in evil thought, 
or in word, or in deed, or even with the industry and delight 
of sin, whether by day or by night, in hours or in moments, 
whether waking or sleeping, or from whatsoever cause I may 
have thought or willed to do, or actually perpetrated them 
against the will of God; therefore, this day I confess them all 
to thee, the God and Lord of heaven and earth, before thine 
altar, with a pure and true confession, and with a will to amend, 
and that these sins may thenceforward be remitted, that thou, 
O Almighty God, who hast said, ' I do not desire the death of 
the sinner, but that he may be converted and live,' mayest have 
mercy, and spare, and forgive, and blot out all my sins, crimes, 
transgressions, and iniquities, past, present, and to come, and 
mayest lead me to life everlasting : Amen. I beseech thee, O 
priest of God, that thou wilt be a witness to me concerning all 
these in the day of judgment; that my enemy may not rejoice 
over me ; and vouchsafe to implore for me the mercy of God, 
that He may give me the favor of his pardon, and the remission 
of all my sins." 

"The Response of the Priest. 

" May the Omnipotent God have mercy on thee, and give thee 
a true pardon of thy-sins, and avenge thee of all thy invisible en- 
emies. May God give thee counsel in this life, and lead thee 
happily to life eternal." 

" Thus far," continues the learned Hugo Menard, " is the 
confession of S.Fulgentius, Bishop In the manuscript Co- 
dex of the Monastery of S. Remigius, situated at Rheims, there 
is another similar confession ; but as the same form is in the 
Ordo Romanus, from which it differs in a very few words, it 
does not'seem worth while to insert it here." The author, 
however, has set down a different form for the " Response of the 
Priest," as follows : 



CHAP. XII.] CONFESSION OF FULGENTIUS. 155 

" May the Omnipotent God have mercy upon thee, and par- 
don all thy sins, deliver thee from every evil work, preserve 
thee in every good work, and lead thee, through the interces- 
sion of all the saints, to glory everlasting. Amen." — (•4pi'-» 
Note 121.) 

From these specimens, it would seem that the pri- 
vate confessions customary in the sixth century and 
afterward were according to a minute and compre- 
hensive form, embracing every imaginable sin, and yet 
avoiding any specification from which the penitent 
could be charged with particular acts of iniquity. 
The Apostle James had laid down the principle (ch. 
ii., 10), that " Whosoever shall keep the whole law, 
and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all." And 
perhaps it was on this ground that the priests of that 
age arranged these forms of confession, since it is dim- 
cult to suppose that any Christian man could be con- 
scious to himself of all the sins enumerated by the 
eminent Bishop Fulgentius. But be this as it may, 
we see here several important points, in which the 
practice of that period differed evidently from the sub- 
sequent Romish system. For, 1st. Private confession 
was still voluntary, instead of being required as a 
regular prerequisite for the administration of the Eu- 
charist. 2d. It was not under the seal of secrecy. 
3d. It did not specify any particular sins. 4th. It 
was not addressed to any being but the Triune God, 
although it was delivered before the altar, the relics, 
the saints, and the priest. 5th. Absolution was 
sought directly from the Almighty. 6th. The priest 
was not asked to absolve, but to be a witness to the 
penitent's confession at the day of judgment, and to 
afford him the benefit of his prayers. 7th. The act 
of the priest, accordingly, was confined to the language 
of solemn prayer, without the imposition of hands, 
but the prayer was expressed in the optative form : 



156 SYSTEM OF CONFESSION [cHAP. XIII. 

" May the Omnipotent God have mercy upon thee, and 
give thee remission of all thy sins," &c. It is true 
that this prayer differs little from those which were 
used in absolution. But we shall see, by later testi- 
mony, that absolution was accompanied by the impo- 
sition of hands, at least so far down as the ninth cen- 
tury. 

It is plain, therefore, that the system was in a tran- 
sition state, greatly changed from the primitive strict- 
ness and simplicity, while yet it was far from the 
mark which it afterward attained. This will be much 
more manifest, however, when I come to examine the 
remainder of the evidence furnished by our learned 
Benedictine, to which I shall proceed in the following 
chapter. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

OTHER FORMS. TESTIMONY OF ST. BERNARD. 

Proceeding with the evidence of the learned Bene- 
dictine, Hugo Menard, we find another interesting 
document in relation to our subject, which brings the 
practice of the Church down to the ninth century. 
It is taken from the Roman Penitentiary, as it was 
adopted and probably modified by the eminent Halit- 
garius, A.D. 816. And it is valuable not only as a 
monument of the rules enjoined at that time, but also 
as a complete proof that the confessional, in its pres- 
ent form, was even then altogether unknown in Chris- 
tendom. 



CHAr. XIII.] IN THE NINTH CENTURY. 157 

" This Halitgarius," saith our author, " was the 
Bishop of Cambray. He lived in the reign of Louis 
the Pious and Charles the Bald, by the latter of whom 
he was sent to Constantinople on a mission to the 
Emperor Michael," &o. — (App., Note 122.) Then 
follows the work in question. 

" How Bishops and Presbyters should receive the Penitent. 

"Whenever Christians come to penitence, we prescribe fast- 
ing, and we ought to communicate with them in this fasting for 
one or two weeks, or as much as we can ; that it may not be said 
to us, as it was said to the Jewish priests by our Lord and Sav- 
iour, Woe unto you, lawyers, who oppress men, and put upon their 
shoulders grievous burdens, but ye yourselves do not touch these 
burdens with one of your fingers. For no one can relieve his 
fellow falling under a load, unless he stoops down that he may 
extend his hand ; neither can a physician cure the wounds of 
the sick, unless he partakes in the evil odor; so, likewise, no 
priest or pontiff can heal the wounds of sinners, or bear away 
their sins from their souls, unless by extreme solicitude and the 
prayer of tears. . . . Therefore let us also, if we see any one 
lying in sins, hasten to call him to penitence by our doctrine. . . . 
Thus, as we have said above, the bishops or the presbyters 
ought to humble themselves, and to pray with sorrow, with 
groaning, and with tears, not only for their own transgressions, 
but also for the transgressions of all Christians, that they may 
be able to say with blessed Paul, Who is weak, and I am not 
weak? who is offended, and I burn not? For he who comes to 
penitence, seeing the priest sorrowful and weeping for his 
crimes, being more impressed with the fear of God, is more 
deeply grieved, and abhors his iniquities." — (App., Note 123.) 

«* But if it happen that any one can not fast, and has the 
means of redemption, if he is rich, let him give twenty shillings 
for seven weeks ; if he has not wherewithal to give so much, 
let him give ten shillings. . . . But if he be very poor, let him 
give three. And let every one attend to the object of his gift, 
which should be either for the redemption of captives, or an 
offering upon the holy altar, or to be expended on poor Chris- 
tians," &c— (App., Note 124.) 

Next we have the prayers which the priest offers 
for the penitent before giving the absolution. The 



158 SYSTEM OF CONFESSION. [cilAP. XIII. 

following is one of the fullest forms, and they are all 
upon the same model : 

"I supplicate, O Lord, the majesty of thy clemency and 
mercy, that thou mayest vouchsafe to this thy servant, confess- 
ing his sins and crimes, thy pardoning grace, and mayest for- 
give the guilt of his past transgressions, thou who didst bring 
back upon thy shoulders the lost sheep, and didst bend thine 
ear, pleased with the confession and prayers of the publican. 
Be also gracious to this thy servant, O Lord ; kindly assist his 
prayers, that he may continue appeasing thee by his confession. 
Let his weeping and his supplication speedily obtain thy per- 
petual clemency, and, being restored to thy holy altars and sac- 
rifices, let him again be subject to the hope of thine eternal 
and celestial glory. Through the Lord." — {App., Note 125.) 

" Prayer of the Imposition of Hands. 

" O holy Lord, Almighty Father, eternal God, who through 
Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, hast deigned to heal our 
wounds, we thy suppliants beseech thee, and we thy humble 
priests implore thee, that thou wouldst vouchsafe to incline the 
ear of thy pity to our prayers, that thou wouldst remit all the 
crimes and pardon all the sins of this thy servant, and give him 
pardon instead of punishment, joy instead of sorrow, life instead 
of death. He has fallen from his celestial dignity, yet, confiding 
in thy mercy, let him be accounted worthy to attain the bounti- 
ful peace and heavenly gifts of thy recompense, even to life 
everlasting. Through the Lord." — {App., Note 126.) 

4 ' Here begins the Reconciliation of the Penitent. 

" First, he repeats the 50th Psalm, with the Antiphon, A 
clean heart. O God ! thou most benignant Creator and merci- 
ful Reformer of mankind, who, in the reconciliation of the fallen, 
hast been willing to save even me, that chiefly need thy mercy; 
grant that, by the effects of thy grace through the sacerdotal 
ministry, the merit of thy suppliant ceasing, the clemency of 
the Redeemer may become the more marvelous. Through our 
Lord." 

« O omnipotent and everlasting God, loose through thy com- 
passion the sins of this thy servant confessing them to thee, 
that the guilt of his conscience may not hurt him in punishment, 
more than the pardon of thy compassion may comfort him with 
forgiveness. Through the Lord." 



CHAP. XIII.] IN THE NINTH CENTURY. 159 

"Another. 
" Almighty and merciful God, who hast placed the pardon of 
sinners in a speedy confession, succor those who have fallen, 
have pity on those who have confessed ; that what the chain 
of their iniquities has bound, the greatness of thy compassion 
may absolve. Through the Lord." — (App., Note 127.) 

After these forms, we have an exact detail of ca- 
nonical penance laid down at great length, commenc- 
ing as follows : 

" Here beginneth the Judgment of the Penitent. 
" If any bishop or other ordained person shall commit homi- 
cide . . . let him do penance during ten years ; three of which 
shall be on bread and water. If a layman, let him do penance 
for three years ; one of which shall be on bread and water," 
6cc.—(App., Note 128.) 

The document proceeds to specify the discipline 
appointed for adultery, perjury, theft, sorcery, sac- 
rilege, and many other crimes, all of which have their 
periods of penitence assigned in the same manner. 
To these is added another list of various minute of- 
fenses, provided for with equal precision, and leaving 
very little to the discretion of the priests. The whole 
of this is plainly derived from the old canons of pub- 
lic penance, and there is no allusion throughout to 
any rule or injunction of secrecy. Thus we see that, 
so late as the ninth century, the penitential discipline 
of the Gallic Church was in a very different condition 
from that which the papal system now imposes. For, 
first, it was applied not to all, but only to gross of- 
fenders. Secondly, the confession was made to God, 
without any mention of the Virgin or the saints. 
Thirdly, it was purely voluntary. Fourthly, the 
• priests were bound to fast and weep along with the 
offender. Fifthly, although the first confession might 
be made before a single bishop or priest, yet the rec- 
onciliation and absolution were administered by sev- 



160 BERNARD. [CHAP. XIII. 

eral, as is plainly indicated by the plural form in the 
prayers. Sixthly, the absolution was in the form of 
prayer, instead of the modern positive and judicial as- 
sumption, " I absolve thee." Seventhly, the recon- 
ciliation was by the imposition of hands. Eighthly, 
the penance was not left to the secret discretion of a 
single priest, but was laid down from the Canons. 
Ninthly, there was no injunction of secrecy. 

But I shall now pass to the early part of the twelfth 
century, and consider the aspect of confession as it 
appears in the writings of the famous St. Bernard. 

This eminent man was the Abbot of Clairvaux, and 
the great and influential spirit of his day, throughout 
the whole of western Christendom. His reproof was 
dreaded by popes and cardinals. His influence was 
powerful enough to stir up a crusade. His authority 
was sought for in every dispute and controversy. His 
name, notwithstanding the long period which had in- 
tervened, was associated, by general consent, with the 
great lights of the Church, and he was reverenced as 
the last of the fathers. Let us listen, therefore, to 
his doctrine on the general subject of penitence and 
confession, and see how it agrees with the modern 
system of the Church of Rome. Thus he speaks : 

"I will pour out all my miseries before God, if haply His 
great compassion may move Him. I will confess my sins to 
Him, to whom all things are naked and open ; whom I can not 
deceive, because He is Wisdom ; whom I can not escape, be- 
cause He is every where. Hear, therefore, O most compas- 
sionate God, hear my confession, and have respect to thy pity, 
and do with me according to thy mercy." — (App., Note 129.) 

There is no allusion to the priest in this author's 
numerous statements on the subject of penitence, but 
they are all in the same strain as the foregoing, re- 
calling the language of Augustin, Chrysostom, and 
Isidore. Thus, while the Catechism of Trent tells 



CHAP. XIII.] BERNARD. 161 

us of the peace and ease which auricular confession 
produces to the conscience, and directs the penitent to 
hear the voice of the priest as he would hear the voice 
of Christ himself, saying, " Be of good cheer, thy sins 
be forgiven thee," Bernard enjoins the very contrary, 
as follows : 

" Because the mercy of God is secret, it is necessary to weep 
without intermission. Hear, therefore, my dearest sister, the 
words of blessed Isidore : * It is not right that the penitent should 
have security concerning his sins.' Why ? Because security 
begets negligence, and negligence often brings the incautious 
man back to his former sins." — {Apjp., Note 130.) 

Nothing can show more clearly the novelty of the 
present Romish system than this. It is precisely the 
same doctrine which we have already quoted from 
Gregory the Great, Isidore, and others. But here, 
so late as the twelfth century, we have the very ar- 
gument by which Rome recommends the secret tri- 
bunal of the priest, selected, in the judgment of Ber- 
nard, as a subject of condemnation. 

My next extract from our author will show a plain 
contrariety to another dangerous falsehood of the Cat- 
echism of Trent, viz., that one may satisfy the di- 
vine justice for another : a doctrine which is closely 
allied to the Roman figment of works of supereroga- 
tion. Commenting on the parable of the Ten Virgins, 
Bernard thus cites the language of the five foolish 
virgins : 

"Give us (say they) of your oil. A foolish petition. The 
just man will scarcely be saved, and hardly even to the saints 
does the oil of their righteousness suffice for salvation ; how 
much less both to themselves and to their neighbors ? Noah, 
Daniel, and Job will not deliver their son, but even as the soul 
which sinneth it shall die, so the soul which doeth righteous- 
ness will alone be saved." — {App., Note 131.) 

In the forms which Bernard has left for private 
confession (p. 400), as well as in the extracts select- 



162 BERNARD. [cHAP. XIV. 

ed from his works, called Flores D. Bernardi, or 
"The Flowers of the divine Bernard," the subject is 
treated without the slightest allusion to auricular con- 
fession or priestly absolution. The whole is addressed 
to the Redeemer alone, and there is no address to saint, 
angel, the Virgin mother, or the sacerdotal judge. And 
thus the matter appears to have stood, saving only in 
the discipline of canonical penances, until the sweep- 
ing revolution of the Council of Lateran in the next 
century, backed by the angelic doctor, Thomas Aqui- 
nas, and the other schoolmen, overturned the primi- 
tive rule and established in its stead a new system of 
error and delusion. 

Closing at this point the evidence of the fathers, 
I shall now go back to A.D. 250 and examine the 
Councils, in order to trace, by this most authorita- 
tive kind of testimony, the various steps of the doc- 
trine and discipline of the Church on the subject un- 
der consideration. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE COUNCILS. 

The oldest Council which has come down to us is 
that of Carthage, held under the celebrated Cyprian, 
A.D. 252, and the synodical epistle is the only record 
of its acts. It speaks of penitence, as required of 
those who had lapsed in time of persecution, in the 
following terms : 

" That those who had been overthrown by the adversary, or 
had lapsed in the troublous times of persecution, and had stained 



CHAP. XIV.] COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE. 168 

themselves by unlawful sacrifices, should perform full penitence 
for a long while ; but if the danger of sickness should require, 
they might receive peace under the stroke of death" (that is, 
they might be reconciled and receive the communion on their 
death-bed). " For it was not right, nor was it permitted by 
the paternal clemency and divine compassion, that the Church 
should be closed against those who were knocking ; that the sup- 
port of saving hope should be denied to those who were griev- 
ing and beseeching ; that those who were departing out of the 
world should be dismissed without the communion and peace 
of the Lord, when He who gave the law had granted that what- 
soever things were hound on earth should he hound also in heav- 
en ; and that there, also, those things might be loosed which 
had first been loosed in the Church." — (App., Note 132.) 

It does not appear that any precise times of public 
penitence were yet appropriated to particular sins, but 
it was left to the discretion of the Church, under the 
counsel of the bishop and the clergy, to determine each 
case as it occurred, according to the best judgment 
which they could form of the intensity of the peni- 
tent's sorrow for his guilt, and the signs which he ex- 
hibited of a true conversion. Hence we have seen 
the exhortations of Tertullian and the other fathers, 
that the penitent should not spare himself, nor omit 
to supplicate his brethren with tears, and even pros- 
tration at their feet, that they might take pity on his 
misery, and shorten the period of his separation. 

The first effort to reduce the administration of 
penitential discipline to a system seems to have been 
that of the Council of Elvira, in Spain, A.D. 313, 
to which I have already alluded.^ At this Council, 
nineteen bishops and twenty-six presbyters, in the 
presence of the deacons and the people, adopted a kind 
of canonical code, specimens of which have been given 
as above, and need not be here repeated. Thus, if 
any Christian partook of idolatry, he should be ex- 

* See page 98-99. 



184 OTHER COUNCILS. [ciIAl'. XIV. 

communicated for life ; and the same punishment was 
allotted to many other sins. If a mistress beat her 
slave so cruelly that death ensued, she should perform 
penance for five or seven years, according to the cir- 
cumstances. If a man became a heretic, and then 
desired to return to the Church, he should be a pen- 
itent for ten years, before he could be admitted again 
to the communion, &c. 

The great Council of Aries, called together by the 
Emperor Constantine, A.D. 314, and said by some of 
the fathers to have consisted of 600 bishops, passed 
several canons denning the causes for which offenders 
should be excommunicated, but without specifying 
any number of years, and therefore leaving the length 
of their penitence to the particular Church with which 
they were connected. 

The system commenced by the Council of Elvira, 
however, once begun, soon extended itself throughout 
the Church, as may be seen by reference to the fol- 
lowing : 

The Council of Ancyra, consisting of 18 bishops, A.D. 314. 

The Council of Neocesarea, " 16 " A.D. 314. 

The General Council of Nice, " 318 " A.D. 325. 

The Council of Gangra, " 16 " time uncertain. 

The Council of Antioch, reckoned by some to have consisted of 30, 
and by others of 97 bishops, A.D. 341. 

The Council of Sardis, variously reckoned at from 29 to 300 bish- 
ops, while the Synodical letter, differing from both, exhibits 60 names. 
This important Council was holden A.D. 347. 

The Council of Laodicea, consisting of 22 bishops, A.D. 372. 

The Council of Valentia, " 30 " A.D. 374. 

The Council of Caesar Augusta, " 12 " A.D. 380. 

The Council of Hippo, " 217 " A.D. 393. 

With many others, portions of which will be cited at 
large, as our work advances. 

The General Council of Nice, A.D. 325, holds a su- 
perior rank among the early Councils, and the twelfth 
canon has been already cited.^ To this I will now add 

* See page 99-100. 



CHAP. XIV.] COUNCIL OF NICE. 165 

the eleventh canon, which will clearly exhibit the char- 
acter of public penitence at that day, specially in 
reference to the case of those who had " lapsed" by 
offering a heathen sacrifice during the period of perse- 
cution. 

m Concerning those," saith this canon, "who have transgress- 
ed without necessity, or without the loss of the*ir property, or 
without danger, or any thing of this kind, which was done un- 
der the tyranny of Licinius, it pleased the Council, although they 
may be thought unworthy of indulgence, to show, notwithstand- 
ing, some benevolence in their behalf. Whoever, therefore, 
shall manifest their penitence truly, let them remain for three 
years among the believing hearers, and prostrate themselves 
with all contrition for six years, and then for two years they 
may communicate in prayer with the people without an obla- 
tion."— (App., Note 133.) 

It is observable, that the whole code of these peni- 
tential canons contemplates the publicity of the dis- 
cipline to which the culprit was obliged to submit 
On the part of the Church, indeed, he was only put 
out of communion, according to St. Paul, who directed 
the same course with respect to the incestuous Co- 
rinthian. On his part, however, it was incumbent on 
him, if he was actually penitent, to seek for readmis- 
sion, by deep contrition and reformation, to the favor 
of God ; and to endeavor, by convincing his brethren 
of his sincerity, to obtain his restoration to the com- 
munion of the Church, and to the means of grace pro- 
vided for the faithful. But, in the very nature of the 
case, this process could not be secret ; for he could not 
be placed in the condition of a penitent until he was 
first put out of the communion. The whole congre- 
gation, therefore, were necessarily apprised of the fact. 
And although his pride might revolt at the acknowl- 
edgment of his offense, and much more at the con- 
tinued manifestation of his abasement, yet it was in- 
finitely better that he should submit to it all for a 



166 THIRD COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE. [CHAP. XIV 

portion of his present life, than risk the condemnation 
of the Lord at His coming to judge the world. 

The Church of Rome can not deny this system of 
public penitence, and does not attempt it, for the proofs 
are too numerous and strong. But she would fain 
persuade her deluded followers that the system of her 
secret auricular confession and absolution existed along 
with it, and was used in all cases where the sin was se- 
cret : public penance being required for public crimes, 
and private penance, at the secret dictation of the priest, 
being exacted for all others. And the hypothesis is 
certainly ingenious, although it is not only at variance 
with the Word of God, but quite irreconcilable with 
the testimony of antiquity. This I have already proved 
from the fathers, and I shall now proceed to prove it 
from the Councils by necessary implication. 

Thus the third Council of Carthage, held by forty- 
six bishops, A.D. 397, furnishes the following evidence 
against auricular confession, in its twenty-fifth canon. 

«« That the clergy or the continent" (that is, those who were 
under the vows of celibacy, which had become customary from 
the commencement of the fourth century, and, in some quar- 
ters, at a still earlier period) — " that the clergy or the continent 
may not approach widows or virgins unless by the command or 
permission of the bishops and presbyters. And then they may 
not do it alone, but in company with their fellow-clergymen, 
or with such as the bishop or presbyter may have directed ; 
nor may even the bishops or presbyters themselves have access 
alone to females of this sort, but either where the clergy shall be 
present or some serious Christians." — (App., Note 134.) 

Now here we see a positive prohibition, even to 
bishops and presbyters, against being alone with a vir- 
gin or a widow. And the Council makes no exception 
for any case whatever. But the Church of Rome re- 
quires her priests to be alone with every widow and 
virgin, for the purpose of auricular confession, before 



CHAP. XIV.] THIRD COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE. 167 

they can receive the sacrament. Nothing can show 
more clearly that the bishops who passed this canon 
could have had no idea of the modern doctrine, which 
is yet audaciously said to have existed from the 
apostolic day. 

The same Council, in its thirty -first canon, fur- 
nishes another proof against the Roman claim, by re- 
quiring the bishops to decide upon the times of peni- 
tence, viz. : 

" That the periods of^penance may be prescribed to penitents 
at the discretion of the bishop, according to the difference of 
their sins." — (App., Note 135.) 

This regulation agrees well with the discipline of 
public penitence, where the transgressors would al- 
ways be a very small minority of each congregation. 
But it would be totally impossible for the bishop to 
dictate the times of individual penance upon the mod- 
ern plan of Romanism, where the case of every man, 
woman, and child in the diocese would have to be con- 
sidered. 

The thirty-second canon of this council affords us 
another demonstration in these words, viz. : 

" That the presbyter shall not reconcile the penitent with- 
out consulting the bishop, unless when the bishop is absent and 
necessity compels. And when the crime of any penitent is 
public and most notorious, so that the whole Church knows it, 
let him receive the imposition of hands before the chancel." — 
(App., Note 136.) 

The meaning of this is plain. By the first clause, 
if the bishop was absent, and necessity compelled 
(which could only be in the case of sickness), the 
priest might reconcile the penitent without consult- 
ing the bishop. The second clause, however, seems 
intended to guard against all private absolutions in 
important and serious cases, where the sin was espe- 
cially offensive and notorious, and where, for that rea- 



168 FOURTH COUNCIL OF CARTHAGE. [cHAP. XIV. 

son, the feelings of the whole congregation were more 
than commonly engaged ; for in such cases neither 
priest nor bishop was allowed to reconcile him in pri- 
vate, however great the necessity, and the act could 
only be performed by bringing the penitent publicly 
before the Church, thereby securing the knowledge 
and consent of the people. How perfect a contrast 
does this present to the modern Roman practice, where 
the priest acts without consulting his bishop, under 
the bond of absolute secrecy, and the penitent never 
receives the imposition of hands at all to mark his rec- 
onciliation. 

The fourth Council of Carthage, held by two hund- 
red and fourteen bishops, A.D. 398, set forth several 
canons, which are equally inconsistent with the pres- 
ent Roman system, viz. : 

Canon LXXIV. 
" The priest shall enjoin the laws of penitence on every one 
who implores penitence, without respect of persons." — (App., 
Note 137.) 

Canon LXXVI. 

" He who asks for penitence in sickness if he is thought 

to be immediately about to die, shall be reconciled by the im- 
position of hands, and the eucharist may be placed within his 

mouth. If he shall survive let him be subjected to the 

established laws of penitence as long as the priest who gave 
him penitence shall approve." — (App., Note 138.) 

Canon LXXVIIL 
*' Penitents who receive the Viaticum of the Eucharist in 
sickness, if they survive, must not believe themselves absolved 
without the imposition of hands." — (App., Note 139.) 

All these provisions of the primitive Church have 
been done away by the Church of Rome, notwith- 
standing her confident boast that she adheres, un- 
changed and unchangeable, to the ancient system. 
We shall see in due time how the lapse of five centu- 



CHAP. XIV.] COUNCIL OF TOLEDO. 169 

ries introduced an express order to accommodate the 
laws of penitence to the rank of the individual, in- 
stead of administering them to all alike, "without re- 
spect of persons." And whereas the two hundred and 
fourteen bishops of the fourth Council of Carthage held 
that no one should be absolved without the imposition of 
hands, the Roman Church now allows no one to be ab- 
solved with it. But it is especially worthy of remark 
that this Council would not dispense with the laws of 
public penitence, even when the penitent had been 
absolved upon his supposed death-bed ; since, if he re- 
covered, he was obliged to go through the whole pre- 
scribed course under the priest's direction. This is 
conclusive to prove that so late as the close of the 
fourth century there was no allowance of private ab- 
solution, except in the single case of impending disso- 
lution, which was a claim of extreme necessity. In- 
stead of which, the Church of Rome enjoins private 
absolution in all cases, and practically uses no other. 
I come now to the commencement of the fifth cen- 
tury, when the first Council of Toledo, held by nine- 
teen bishops, in their second Canon, set forth a def- 
inition of the word Penitent, which clearly shows the 
meaning attached to it in the discipline of Christian 
antiquity. 

" It was decreed, also, that no penitent may be admitted to 
Holy Orders, except only that, if necessity or utility should re- 
quire it, he may be appointed among the door-keepers, or among 
the readers, but so that he may not read the Gospels or the 

Epistle And by this word Penitent we mean him who, 

after baptism, having performed public penitence in sackcloth, 
either for homicide or for various other very grievous crimes, 
shall have been reconciled to the divine altar."— (App., Note 
140.) 

This proves plainly the order of the matter at that 
time, in precise accordance with the testimony of the 

H 



170 COUNCIL OF CHALONS. [CHAP. XIV. 

fathers. Private penitence, which was required of all 
men for their daily sins, was a duty to be performed 
to God ; and here the rules of confession and recon- 
ciliation, laid down in reference to the Church and 
the priesthood, had no application whatever. But 
for the grosser sins, such as murder, adultery, forni- 
cation, theft, perjury, &c, public penitence was en- 
joined and strictly enforced. The modern Roman 
system entirely confounds these distinctions ; on the 
one hand, compelling all without exception, however 
clear of gross sin, to confess secretly to the priest and 
receive his private absolution ; while, on the other, 
the vilest criminal receives the same absolution, and 
his secret of guilt is kept, and he is admitted to the 
Eucharist ; when the primitive Church would have 
separated him for years together from the communion 
of the faithful, and would not have restored him even 
then, unless he had publicly bewailed his sins in sack- 
cloth and ashes, and the people, as well as the bishop 
and the priests, were satisfied that he had become 
thoroughly reformed. 

But let us pass over the next four centuries, and 
see what evidence is afforded of a tendency to change 
and corruption in this important question of disci- 
pline. And here we come to the Council of Chalons- 
sur-Saone, A.D. 813, where we meet with this dis- 
tinct acknowledgment of degeneracy : 

" The exercise of penitence, according to the ancient consti- 
tution of the Canons, has fallen into disuse in most places, and 
neither in excommunicating nor in reconciling is the order of 
the old practice preserved." — (App., Note 141.) 

This is a truly important and conclusive acknowl- 
edgment, and applies to the whole question in contro- 
versy. For if there had been any thing like the 
present Romish system in the primitive Church, and 



CHAP. XIV.] COUNCIL OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 171 

that had continued in purity and vigor, it would have 
been supposed to suffice then, as it is supposed to suf- 
fice now, and the Council could not have passed such 
a judgment against the change which had taken place, 
without some favorable notice of the private priestly 
confessional. 

Instead of this, however, the same Council pro- 
ceeds, in the sixty-first Canon, to pass a law which 
is manifestly aimed against the liberties taken by the 
clergy in their private intercourse with the nuns. It 
is as follows, viz. : 

" The nuns ought not to eat or drink in their own houses 
with any males, whether clergy or laymen, kindred or strangers. 
And it may not be lawful for them to converse with any male, 
unless in the Auditory" (or the common parlor), " and there only 
before witnesses." — (App., Note 142.) 

The same restrictions appear in a large number of 
other Councils, plainly showing the encroachments of 
a relaxed and dangerous state of morals, the sad con- 
sequence of the efforts so insanely directed against 
the marriage of the clergy, and the exaltation of celi- 
bacy among monks and nuns. Thus, in the Coun- 
cil of Aix-la-Chapelle, held A.D. 816, the following 
directions are prescribed to the priesthood : 

« If, in the performance of clerical duty, either a widow or a 
virgin is visited, never enter the house alone, and take such com- 
panions as may not disgrace thee by their company. Do not 
sit alone with any female, secretly, and without referee or wit- 
ness. If any thing more private is to be said, she has her nurse, 
or steward, virgin, widow, or married woman ; she can not be so 
unsociable that there is no one beside thee to whom she ven- 
tures to trust herself. Beware of all suspicions ; and whatever 
may be imagined with probability, avoid beforehand, lest it may 
be supposed." — (App., Note 143.) 

" As for the presbyters, whose duty it is to celebrate the so- 
lemnities of the mass in convents of women, let there be a place 
and a church, outside of the convent, where they may dwell 
with their assistants, and perform the divine service ; and let 



172 COUNCIL OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. [cHAP. XIV. 

tliem not enter the convent of girls except at the set time, and 
along with them shall be a deacon only and a sub-deacon, who 
are eminent for honesty of life, and desire to love, not them- 
selves, but Christ, and who seek not their own, but the things 
of Jesus Christ ; and let them not remain there longer than may 
be required for the public celebration of the mass for the nuns. 
Which being rightly and devoutly celebrated, let them go out 
immediately. . . . And let the nuns beware that no one of them 
hold any familiar conversation with those presbyters or with 
their ministers. If any of them wishes to confess her sins to 
the priest, let her do it in the church, that she may be seen by 
others, as it is directed in the precepts of the holy fathers; ex- 
cept the sick who are compelled to do it in their houses. But 
let the presbyter, in order to avoid detraction, have with him a 
deacon and sub-deacon, who are truly of good fame, by whom 
he may be seen, and a good report may be given of his inno- 
cence. — (App., Note 144.) 

Here we see not only that a change was made, but 
that the relaxation of the ancient strictness of peni- 
tence, united to the unnatural restraints of clerical 
celibacy, had given rise to a state of morals so cor- 
rupt, that a priest is forbidden to be alone with a fe- 
male who wished to confess her sins, lest he should 
be accused of iniquity. The very passage of such 
canons by councils of bishops proves the degenerate 
state of the Church in the plainest manner. But we 
do not find this allowance of private confession uni- 
versal even at this time, for the greater number of the 
Councils restrict the intercourse of the priests with 
nuns, without any such exception. Thus an import- 
ant Synod, held A. D. 878, passed the following canon: 

" That the bishop shall frequently visit the monasteries of the 
monks and the nuns, along with some grave and religious per- 
sons, and, residing in their convent, shall examine their life and 
conversation ; and if he find any thing reprehensible, shall sedu- 
lously endeavor to correct it. He shall also closely investigate 
the chastity of the nuns. And if any be found who, their pur- 
pose of chastity being neglected, shall have held intercourse im- 
modestly with any cleric or layman, let her be thrust into pri- 



CHAP. XIV.] CONSTITUTION OF SOISSONS. 173 

vate confinement, where she may repent worthily of her evil 
deeds. Let him also forbid, by the authority of the holy canons, 
that any layman or cleric shall have access to their cloisters or 
private rooms; neither shall the presbyters be admitted, except 
only to the mass ; and the mass being over, let them return to 
their own churches." — {App., Note 145.) 

Here the priests are only allowed to enter the con- 
vents for the performance of the public service of the 
mass, and no liberty is given, as in the Council of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, for any private acts of confession. 
The system, however, was growing, and at length be- 
came universal, though not without reiterated strug- 
gles and protests, which were all in vain. 

The same prohibitions meet us again in the synod- 
ical Constitution of Riculf, the Bishop of Soissons, A. 
D. 889, and in the most revolting form, indicating a 
truly shocking state of moral corruption, viz. : 

" Let no presbyter enter into idle conversation with a woman 
alone. . . . But we likewise say that they must beware of moth- 
ers, aunts, sisters, and kindred ; lest, perchance, that may hap- 
pen which is read in Scripture concerning Amnon and Lot." I 
leave the full passage in the words of the original Latin. — [App.^ 
Note 146.) 

I pass over somewhat less than a century, and find 
the progress of the Confessional going on toward its 
maturity, although it was still left voluntary, and not 
demanded as a necessary prerequisite for the admin- 
istration of the Eucharist. A very full view of the 
matter at this time may be had in the Ecclesiastical 
Laws of King Edgar, drawn up by the stern and 
thoroughly monkish spirit of Dunstan, archbishop of 
Canterbury, A.D. 967. And it may be well to make 
a large extract from this code for the reader's satis- 
faction. 

" Of Confession. 

II When any one desires to make confession of his sins, let 
him act the man, and not blush to acknowledge his crimes and 



174 LAWS OF KING EDGAR. [CHAP. XIV. 

wickedness by accusing himself; because hence comes pardon, 
and because there is no forgiveness without confession ; for 
confession heals, confession justifies." — (App., Note 147.) 

The directions to the confessor are as follows : 

" Interrogate him" (the penitent) " concerning his morals ; 
force out of him his crimes, and set before him all things which 
he has done, but always taking care in thyself that thou must 
never judge in the same manner the rich and the poor, the 
freemen and slaves, the old and the young, the well and the 
sick, the humble and the proud, the strong and the weak, the 
clergy and the laity. A prudent judge will distinguish pru- 
dently concerning the fact, namely, what has been perpetra- 
ted ? how, where, and when ? For the greater the power and 
dignity of the sinner, the more heavily he should be corrected 
for his sins before God and men." — (App., Note 148.) 

Next follows the form of confession to be uttered 
by the penitent (besides the special sins, with time, 
place, and circumstance), in these words, viz. : 

V. 

" I confess to Almighty God, and to my confessor and spirit- 
ual physician, all the sins which, by the defilement of evil spirits, 
I have ever committed ; whether in deed or in thought, with 
males or with females, or any other Creature, whether accord- 
ing to nature or against nature." 

VI. 

" I confess gluttony in food, both morning and evening. I 
confess every kind of avarice, and envy, and detraction, and 
double dealing, and lying, and empty boasting, and vain speak- 
ing, impious prodigality, and pride of whatever sort which may 
have happened in any manner to this my unbridled body. I 
confess that I have frequently been the author of sin, the pro- 
moter of sin, the witness of sin, and the teacher of sin." 

VII. 

" I confess that in my mind I have been guilty of homicide, 
perjury, sedition, pride, and neglect of the precepts of God. I 
confess all things which I have ever seen with my eyes, either 
unlawfully lusting or disdaining; likewise all vain and super- 
fluous things which I have either heard with my ears or spoken 
with my mouth." 



CHAP. XIV.] LAWS OP KING EDGAR. 175 

VIII. 

« I also confess all the sins of my body, of my skin, of my 
flesh, of my bones and nerves, of my reins and cartilages, of 
my tongue and my lips, of my jaws, teeth, and hair, of my mar- 
row, and any other thing whatever, whether it be soft or hard, 
wet or dry. I confess that I have observed my baptism worse 
than I promised to my Lord, and the profession which I was 
bound to keep to the praise of God and of his saints, and to my 
own eternal salvation. I confess that I have often neglected my 
canonical hours, and more often still, being forsworn, have taken 
the life and the name of the Lord in vain." 

IX. 

"I ask and implore of my Lord remission of all these, that 
the devil by his snares may never prevail against me, lest per- 
haps I die without confession and amendment of my sins ; even 
as this day I have confessed all my sins before our Lord and 
Saviour Christ, who governs heaven and earth, and before this 
holy altar, and these relics, and before my confessor, the mass- 
priest of the Lord ; and even as I have pronounced a pure and 
true confession, and am of ready mind to correct all my sins, 
and always hereafter to avoid them with as much care as I 
can." 

X. 

" And thou, O Jesus Christ my Saviour, have compassion on 
my soul, and remit, I beseech thee, and blot out my sins and my 
transgressions which I have ever perpetrated, either formerly 
or recently, and lead me into thy kingdom on high, that there I 
may abide with thine elect and holy ones without end through- 
out eternity. And now I humbly beseech thee, O priest of the 
Lord, that thou mayest be a witness to me in the day of judg- 
ment, that the devil may have no part in me, and that thou 
mayest be my advocate with God ; that I may correct my sins 
and the trangressions I have committed, and may desist from 
committing the like again. To the performing of this may the 
Lord assist me, who liveth and reigneth without end, forever. 
Amen."— (App., Note 149.) 

Next follows the " Mode of imposing penance," 
drawn from the old penitential canons, a few speci- 
mens of which will suffice to show the aspect of the 
whole : 



176 LAWS OF KING EDGAR. [cHAP. XIV. 

VI. 

" If a layman shall have killed another without cause, let him 
fast for seven years on bread and water, and four of these as 
his confessor shall appoint. But after this seven years' peni- 
tence is past, let him nevertheless always mourn with as much 
industry as he can, forasmuch as it is unknown to men how 
much his penitence has availed with God." 

VII. 
" Whoever had determined to kill another, and was unable 
to accomplish his desire, let him fast three years : one of them 
on bread and water, and two of them as his confessor shall ap- 
point." 

VIII. 
" If a layman shall have killed another unwillingly, let him 
fast three years : one on bread and water, and two of them as 
his confessor shall appoint, and let him lament his transgres- 
sions always." 

IX. 
"If he be a sub-deacon, let him fast six years." 
"If he be a deacon, let him fast seven years." 
" If he be a mass-priest, let him fast ten years, and a bishop 
twelve years, and let him mourn always," &c. — (App., Note 
150.) 

After this there follows a long list of all imagin- 
able sins, with their appropriate sentences, and then 
come the rules concerning " Satisfaction," viz. : 

I. 

" In this part of confession the help of some theologian may 
conduce greatly to the expiation of sin, no less than the coun- 
sel of a learned physician to the cure of a disease." 

II. 

« Men often sin from their own concupiscence, and not rare- 
ly through the instigation of the devil ; and that is a fearful 
thing, because ecclesiastics, so often sinning against God, lose 
the dignity of their orders." 

III. 

" To correct this, there is need of rigid penitence, always^ 
nevertheless, according to the degree of order and of sin as it is 






GHAP. XIV.] LAWS OF KING EDGAR. 177 

enjoined by the canons. And each one ought to undertake this 
penitence with all his effort and strength, yea, with the anxiety 
of his inmost heart. Some should submit to a penitence of one 
year, others of more, but always in proportion to the measure 
of their sins : some one month, some many months, some one 
week, some many weeks, some one day, some many days, and 
some all the days of their lives." — {App., Note 151.) 

This, assuredly, looks severe enough, and at least 
professes to pay profound respect to the ancient pen- 
itential canons. But now comes the principle of the 
composition or commutation of penance, which prac- 
tically places the whole matter upon a totally differ- 
ent basis. 

XIII. 
" The compounding of sins with God is made in various man- 
ners, and alms-giving conduces chiefly to their payment." 

XIV. 

"Let him who is rich enough build churches to the praise 
of God; and if he is able to do more, let him add manors, and 
bring in young men who may perform the holy service for him, 
and daily celebrate unto God the holy mysteries." — (App. t Note 
152.) 

To this good work is added a large list of useful 
and benevolent labors, building roads and bridges, 
feeding the poor, &c. ; and then we have the follow- 
ing injunction : 

44 Let him distribute, for the love of God, all that he has; let 
him abandon therewith his lands, his country, and all the de- 
sirable things of this world, and serve his Lord night and day," 
&c— (App., Note 153.) 

There is not a trace of all this to be found in the 
ancient canons, nor in the primitive fathers. That 
a wealthy sinner could compound his penitence for 
sin by building churches, endowing monasteries, mak- 
ing roads and bridges, &c, as a proof of repentance, 
was a new idea ; but yet it became speedily preva- 
lent, since, however delusive it might be to the sin- 
El 2 



178 LAWS OF KING EDGAR. [cHAP. XIV. 

ner, it was profitable to the Church and the priest- 
hood, and formed the principal fund of their wealth 
for centuries together. But let me proceed to the 
accommodation in favor of the sick, which forms the 
next step in the novel system. 

" In the following shall be set forth in what way a sick man 
may redeem the fast prescribed to him : 

XVIII. 
" Any one may redeem a fast of one day by one penny. 
Every one may also redeem a fast of one day by two hundred 
and twenty psalms. Any one, also, may redeem a fast of twelve 
months with thirty shillings ; or, in freeing any one from a fast, 
it may be estimated in the same proportion ; and for a fast of 
one day the man may sing six times Beati and six times Pater- 
noster. And for a fast of one day, let a man bend his knees and 
bow himself to the ground sixty times, saying, Our Father," 
&c.—(App., Note 154.) 

These curious regulations clearly prove that the 
sick man, for whose benefit they were intended, might 
be in a very tolerable state of bodily vigor, since oth- 
erwise the singing and the genuflections would have 
been a more severe task than the fasting. And sup- 
posing him to have been well enough to relish his 
meals, it is manifest that a penny a day, and thirty 
shillings a year, for the liberty of eating as usual, 
were a cheap purchase of his relief from bread and 
water. But this is not all. 

XIX. 

" Any one may accomplish a fast of seven years in one year, 
if he will sing every day the psalms of the psalter, and the same 
every night, and fifty in the evening. Also, by a single mass 
any one may compound for a fast of twelve days ; and by thirty 
masses any one may exempt himself from a fast of one year, 
if he will intercede for himself in the true love of God, and con- 
fess his sins to the confessor, and amend them as he may direct, 
and always avoid them afterward." — (App., Note 155.) 

And at the close of this code we have the follow- 



CHAP. XIV.] LAWS OF KING EDGAR. 179 

ing accommodating plan for men of rank and conse- 
quence, notwithstanding it is so strongly declared in 
the beginning that the greater and more powerful any- 
one might be, in the same proportion must his sins 
be punished before God and man. 

" Of the Penitence of Great Men. 
I. 
" In this manner an illustrious man, depending on his friends, 
may by their help render his penitence lighter. First, in the 
name of God, and to the satisfaction of his confessor, let him 
manifest that his faith is right, and pardon all who have sinned 
against him, and make confession of all his sins without any 
omission, and promise to repent, and receive his penance with 
much groaning." 

II. 

" Then let him lay aside his arms, &c. Let him prepare 
himself for three days in this manner, and let him take in aid 
of himself twelve companions ; let them fast three days on bread, 
and raw herbs and water; and let him obtain besides, if he can, 
in order to consummate the work, seven hundred and twenty 
men, who will each fast three days for his sake, namely, each 
one three days. Thus the number of those fasts will amount 
to as many as there are days in the whole seven years." 

III. 

"When any such person shall fast, let him distribute the 
dishes, or preparations of food which he should have enjoyed, 
to all the poor people of God ; and in these three days of his 
fast let him lay aside all worldly business whatsoever : day and 
night, as often as he can, let him seek the church, and watch 
there solicitously by the lamp of charity, and cry to God, and 
pray for the remission of his sins with a mourning spirit and with 
bended knees. Let him, also, frequently extend himself in the 
form of the cross, now erect, now lying prostrate on the ground. 
Let every great man learn, likewise, to pour forth tears from his 
eyes sincerely, and deplore his sins. Let him also, in these 
three days, feed as many of the poor as he can ; and on the 
fourth day let him wash them all, and give them food and mon- 
ey. Moreover, let him who performs this penance stoop to 
the washing of their feet: and let them celebrate for the said 



180 LAWS OF KING EDGAR. [CHAP. XIV. 

penitent on that day as many masses as with their utmost in- 
dustry they are able to prepare, and in the time of these masses 
let absolution be given to him ; and then let him take the Eucha- 
rist, unless by his too great guilt he is so hindered that he may 
not yet receive it. Let him promise, nevertheless, that for the 
future he will perform, as far as he is able, the will of God, and 
avoid, by the help of God, all injustice, so long as he lives, and 
that he will rightly hold, perpetually and above all things, the 
truth of Christian doctrine, and reject heathenism altogether." 

IV. 

" This is for the great men, and those who have a multitude 
of friends, but it is not given to the poor man to proceed thus. 
It is necessary, therefore, to exact the whole more strongly from 
himself, and this truly is most just, that every one should for 
himself pay the penalty of his iniquities, and studiously submit 
to his correction ; for it is written that every one shall bear his 
own burden." — (App., Note 156.) 

This code of King Edgar — drawn up by Archbish- 
op Dunstan, and set forth by the royal authority — 
exhibits a very curious compound. It differs greatly 
from the present doctrine of Rome on several points 
of serious importance. That auricular confession and 
priestly absolution must precede, in all cases, the re- 
ception of the Eucharist ; that penance is a sacra- 
ment ; that the priest, in the tribunal of penance, 
represents the Lord Jesus Christ ; that his sentence 
conveys absolution as though the Saviour himself had 
spoken ; that the penitent may be absolved before his 
penitence is performed ; that both penitent and priest 
are under the obligation of secrecy ; that the confes- 
sion is addressed not only to God, but also to the Vir- 
gin and the saints : all these are quite foreign from 
the notions of Dunstan, and even in the tenth cen- 
tury were nowhere to be found in Christendom. But 
the penance, for the most part, was still dictated by 
the priests in subjection to the ancient canons ; and 
a very large advance was made toward the modern 



CiJAP. XV. J FOURTH COUNCIL OF LATERAN. 181 

system in the commutation of penance and in the in- 
quisition of the priests, by which they were told to 
" extort" the guilt of the penitent. 

The progress of change, however, was constantly 
in the same direction, until the Church was gradually 
brought to the point, when the Council of Lateran felt 
able to legislate away every trace of the ancient sys- 
tem which could stand in the road of papal despot- 
ism. On this, therefore, I shall enter in the next 
chapter. 



CHAPTER XV. 

FOURTH COUNCIL OF LATERAN. THOMAS AQUINAS. 

Hitherto, during successive ages of gross ignorance 
and darkness, the progress of priestly corruption and 
despotism had gradually gone forward toward the de- 
sired point of absolute authority. This was the em- 
pire which the pope and the clergy conceived they had 
a right to claim over the laity. It was their practi- 
cal idea of the kingdom of Christ. The true spirit- 
ual government of the Lord in the hearts of mankind, 
was resolved into the unresisted reign of the papal 
hierarchy. And to the proposed end, the Word of 
God, the primitive discipline, and the doctrine of the 
fathers, were all forced to bend, until the victory was 
supposed to be achieved, and the priest was believed 
to be clothed with little less than the powers of deity. 

To crown the enterprise with entire success, the 
fourth Council of Lateran was convened by Pope In- 
nocent III., A.D. 1215, the great object of which was 



182 FOURTH COUNCIL OF LATER AN. [cHAP. XV. 

to bear down the encroaching advances of what they 
called heresy, by the outward force of fire and sword, 
of imprisonment, or banishment and confiscation. An 
immense assemblage of bishops, abbots, and titled lay- 
men, the representatives of royalty, was brought to- 
gether at the papal Church in Rome, and the decrees 
passed came forth before the world with all the in- 
fluence of a supposed infallible authority. 

It is beside my present object to enlarge on the op- 
pressive, inquisitorial, and cruel spirit which breathes 
in the enactments of this celebrated Council. But 
the canons which bear upon our subject of the Con- 
fessional are as follows, viz. : 

Canox XXI. 

"Of Confession to he made, and not to he revealed hy the Priest ; 
and the Communion to he received at least at Easter. 

" Every believer of either sex, after coming to years of dis- 
cretion, shall faithfully confess all his sins alone, at least once a 
year, to his own priest, and shall endeavor, to the utmost of his 
power, to fulfill the penance enjoined ; receiving reverently, at 
least at Easter, the Sacrament of the Eucharist, unless, per- 
haps, through the counsel of his own priest, for some reasona- 
ble cause, he should conclude to abstain at that time from its 
reception : otherwise, let him be prohibited from entering the 
Church while living, and, dying, be deprived of Christian burial. 
Wherefore, let this salutary law be frequently published in the 
churches, lest any one may assume the vail of excuse from the 
blindness of ignorance. If any one, however, should desire for 
a just cause to confess his sins to another priest, let him first 
ask and obtain a license from his own priest, since otherwise the 
other can not loose or bind." — (App., Note 157.) 

" But let the priest be discreet and cautious, that, in the man- 
ner of a skillful physician, he may pour the oil and the wine 
into the wounds of the sick, diligently inquiring into the circum- 
stances both of the sinner and the sin, by which he may wisely 
understand what counsel he ought to give him, and what kind of 
remedy he should apply, using divers expedients to heal the 
patient. And let him by all means take heed that he betray 
not the sinner in any degree, either by word or by sign, or in 



CHAP. XV.] FOURTH COUNCIL OF LATERAN. 183 

any other manner whatever; but if he should need more pru- 
dent counsel, let him ask for it cautiously, without any indication 
of the person ; for we hereby decree that whoever shall pre- 
sume to reveal a sin made known to him in the tribunal of pen- 
itence shall not only be deposed from the sacerdotal office, but 
shall also be thrust into a close monastery, to perform perpetual 
penance." — (App., Note 158.) 

These stringent rules did not concern the priest- 
hood alone, for even the members of the medical pro- 
fession were forced to become parties to the new dis- 
cipline by the same despotic authority. This pro- 
vision of the Council is in the following words, viz. : 

Canon XXII. 

" That the SicJc should provide for the Soul before the Body. 

" Inasmuch as corporal infirmity sometimes proceeds from 
sin, .... we ordain by this present decree, and strictly command 
the physicians of bodies, that whenever they shall happen to be 
called to the sick, they must, before all things, admonish and 
induce them to send for the physicians of souls, in order that, 
after provision shall have been made for the spiritual health of 
the sick, they may proceed to the remedy of bodily medicine 
more beneficially, since the cause ceasing, the effect also ceases." 

"And if any of the physicians shall be found to have trans- 
gressed this our Constitution after it shall have been published 
by the prelates of the dioceses, let him be prohibited from en- 
tering the Church until he has given complete satisfaction for 
his offense."— {App., Note 159.) 

Here, then, the keystone appears to have been set 
in the arch of sacerdotal despotism. For the first 
time in the history of the Church, private auricular 
confession to the priest of the parish was rendered ob- 
ligatory on every person without exception, at least 
once a year. And the neglect of it was punished, if 
not by formal, yet by virtual excommunication ; since 
the transgressor was prohibited from entering the doors 
of the Church while living, and when dead he was de- 
prived of Christian burial ! The very terms of the 
decree show that this obligation was a novelty, be- 



184 NEW FORM OF ABSOLUTION. [CHAP. XV. 

cause the sentence was not to be executed until it 
had first been publicly proclaimed. And even the 
physicians are obliged to become the agents of the 
priest in compelling the laity to submit to this act 
of usurpation, notwithstanding the danger which the 
patient might incur by thus forcing him to go through 
the process of the confessional, before he was allowed 
to attend to their prescriptions. 

In close connection with this novel assumption of 
sacerdotal authority, a serious change took place in 
the form of absolution, which, up to this time, had 
been simply a prayer that God would remit the sins 
of the penitent, accompanied by the laying on of 
hands. But now the priests advanced another step ; 
not, as formerly, content with beseeching the Lord to 
absolve, but saying, " I absolve thee," thus claiming 
a full and positive power to forgive the sins of the 
penitent, and taking upon them a far higher expres- 
sion of prerogative than the Church had known since 
the apostolic day. For the evidence of this, I recur 
to the testimony of the learned Benedictine, Hugo 
Menard, in his Annotations on the Sacramentary of 
Gregory the Great. The passage is as follows, viz. : 

" There was formerly," saith this author, " a controversy 
between St. Thomas and a certain doctor concerning the form 
of absolution ; the doctor asserting that it was precatory, and 
that scarcely thirty years had elapsed since all used this form 
only : May the omnipotent God grant to thee absolution and re- 
mission. "While the other contended that the form of absolu- 
tion was enunciatory or indicative, in these words : I absolve 
thee, &c, which indicate the judicial power of the priest." — 
(Ajpp., Note 160.) 

Now it is highly improbable that the « certain doc- 
tor" who entered into controversy with the redoubta- 
ble Thomas Aquinas would have been so weak or rash 
as to assert a fact, in which, if he were in error, it 



CHAP. XV.] NEW FORM OF ABSOLUTION. 185 

must have been in the power of every priest in Chris- 
tendom to have exposed him. His positive assertion, 
therefore, that thirty years had hardly elapsed since 
the form of absolution had been precatory in all the 
Churches, was doubtless the truth ; and he was right 
in opposing the introduction of the indicative form as 
an unwarrantable innovation. But the change was 
favorable to the papal doctrine of priestly power, of 
which Thomas was a shrewd and unflinching cham- 
pion ; and it is easy to imagine on which side of such 
an argument victory and applause would attend in 
the thirteenth century. 

A still more positive proof, however, of the time 
when this change was introduced, may be derived from 
the form in which Thomas Aquinas has arranged the 
argument in his famous Summa; for he was born 
in A.D. 1224, nine years after the fourth Council of 
Lateran, and died in 1274, leaving his great work 
unfinished. And the following extracts will show how 
perfectly destitute his doctrine was of any authority 
from antiquity, and how victoriously, by his own tacit 
admission, that authority was arrayed on the other 
side. It must be granted, indeed, in palliation of his 
sophistry, that he thought himself bound to sustain 
the Council by the best reasoning in his power. That 
Council was called a General Council ; it claimed in- 
fallibility; and it had outraged the teaching of the 
Scriptures and the Church, by compelling all, with- 
out exception, of either sex, to place themselves from 
the age of discretion in the position of penitents, and 
by debarring them of the sacrament, and even de- 
priving them of access to the Church while living, and 
of Christian burial when dead, if they refused to sub- 
mit to a private priestly inquisition at least once in 
every year. As a faithful soldier of the Churchy 



18G PENITENCE MADE A SACRAMENT. [cHAP. XV. 

Thomas set his ingenuity to work for the purpose of 
justifying this novel assumption, and saw no other 
plan so likely to succeed as the making penitence a 
sacrament, and thus taking the highest ground for its 
universal necessity. His language is the following, 
viz. : 

" Wlieilier Penitence is a Sacrament. 
" It seems that penitence is not a sacrament. For Gregory 
saith, and it is in the Decretals, that The Sacraments are Bap- 
tism, Chrism, the Body and Blood of Christ : which are called 
Sacraments for this reason, because, under the veil of material 
things, the divine virtue secretly ivories salvation in them. But 
this does not take place in penitence ; because in it no material 
things are employed, under which the divine power works sal- 
vation. Therefore penitence is not a sacrament." 

To this argument, which Thomas places in the 
mouth of his supposed antagonist, he answers as fol- 
lows : 

" But the contrary is the truth, that as baptism is employed 
for the purifying from sin, so also is penitence. And hence 
Peter said to Simon, Acts, viii., Exercise penitence for this thy 
wickedness. But baptism is a sacrament, as has been shown. 
Therefore, by equal reason, penitence is so likewise." — (App., 
Note 161.) 

Then follows a sophistical chain of argument to 
prove this new theological proposition, in which, how- 
ever, he pretends to no authority from fathers or coun- 
cils, striving only to make good his position by an in- 
genious, but utterly forced and unreasonable analogy, 
derived from baptism. Now Thomas was a man of 
profound learning, and never failed, when it was in his 
power, to exhibit for his conclusions both scriptural 
and patristic authority. And therefore, when we see 
him obliged to confess that the Church of former ages 
is against him, as he here does by putting Gregory 
and the Decretals in the mouth of his adversary, and 
arguing the question as if now, in the thirteenth cen- 



CHAP. XV.] ARGUMENT OF THOMAS. 187 

tury, it was to be settled for the first time, on fanci- 
ful and unsupported analogies, he exhibits an exam- 
ple of the most flagitious private judgment, not to 
be surpassed in the whole history of heresy, and one 
which nothing could have made successful but the 
iron determination of popery to lord it over the Word 
of God and the rights of man, in the very reckless- 
ness of priestly despotism. 

Let us next mark the plain statement of Thomas 
upon the other point, viz., the change of the form of 
absolution. 
« Wlielher this is the Form of this Sacrament, 1 absolve thee. 

" To the third question we may proceed thus. It seems that 
this is not the form of this sacrament, I absolve thee. For the 
forms of the sacraments are derived from the institution of Christ 
and the usage of the Church. But we do not read that Christ 
instituted this form, nor is it even in general use ; nay, more, in 
certain absolutions which are administered in the public Church 
(as in Prime and Compline, and the Supper of the Lord), the 
priest absolving does not use the indicative, saying, I absolve you, 
but the precatory form, saying, May the Almighty God have 
mercy upon you, or May the omnipotent God grant you absolu- 
tion and remission. Therefore the form of this sacrament is 
not, I absolve thee.' 1 '' 

" But the contrary is the truth, that as the Lord said to his 
disciples (Matt., last chapter), Go teach all nations, baptizing 
them ; so also he said to Peter, Matt., xvi., Whatever ye shall 
loose upon earth, &c. But the priest, relying on the authority 
of those words of Christ, saith, I baptize thee. Therefore, by 
the same authority he ought to say in this sacrament, I absolve 
thee.'" 

"CONCLUSION. 

" There is no form of this sacrament of penitence more suit- 
able than these words, I absolve thee, since they most aptly sig- 
nify what is done in the sacrament." — ( App., Note 162.) 

Here, again, we see Thomas Aquinas leaving his 
adversary in quiet possession of the fathers and the 
custom of the Church, which it was, indeed, impossi- 
ble for him to deny, and going off in the very wan- 



188 ARGUMENT OF THOMAS. [cHAP. XV. 

tonness of private judgment, to make out his case by 
an unauthorized appeal to the mode of performing 
baptism. True, he knew that he was secure of papal 
approbation. He was perfectly aware, too, that in 
no other way could the monstrous assumption of the 
fourth Council of Lateran be sustained with the show 
of theological argument. But this does not save him 
from the most glaring opposition to the whole doctrine 
and practice of the Church for twelve centuries to- 
gether. 

The fallacy of his reasoning, however, is transpar- 
ent. The priest in baptism rightly uses the indica- 
tive form of words, I baptize thee, because, at the 
time of their utterance, he does actually and visibly 
administer baptism. But whether the sins of the 
person are remitted in baptism, the priest declares 
not, because he can not be certain of the fact, and 
therefore leaves it to Him who alone has power to for- 
give sins. So in the holy Eucharist, the words of 
Christ are repeated in connection with the consecra- 
tion of the elements, but whether the reception of the 
sacrament does actually convey any spiritual strength 
or refreshment to the soul, the priest declares not, be- 
cause that depends on the state of the receiver's heart, 
which is known to God alone. It is not in analogy 
with these cases, therefore, but in direct opposition to 
them, that in this newly -invented sacrament of pen- 
ance the priest presumes to remit the sins of the party 
expressly, saying, i" absolve thee, notwithstanding his 
perfect ignorance of the penitent's inward condition. 
And the attempt of Thomas to justify it by the form 
of baptism, in which the minister assumes no more 
than the performance of the outward act, and declares 
absolutely nothing as to the fact of remission of sins 
(although it was for the remission of sins that this 



CHAP. XV.] THE GREEK FORM. 189 

sacrament was instituted), exhibits one of the most 
audacious instances of contempt toward authority, and 
of arrogant usurpation of spiritual power, which have 
ever disgraced the name of theologian. 

I shall have to recur to this subject again, when 
commenting on the reasons which led to the retention 
of this very objectionable form by our venerable Mother 
Church of England, and its rejection by our own. 
And I now proceed to the testimony of the Oriental 
Churches, as affording another conclusive proof of the 
innovation thus brought in by the overwhelming in- 
fluence of the schoolmen, backed by the papacy, in 
those dark ages, when it seems that nothing was too 
vast for the ambition of the priests or for the gross 
credulity of the laity. x 

I quote once more the learned Benedictine, Hugo 
Menard, who expressly states that the Greek Church- 
es use only the precatory form of absolution. His 
words are as follows, viz. : 

*« The Greeks, in their absolution from sins, use many pre- 
catory forms, which may be seen in their Euchology, although 
they begin by making mention of the power of absolving, di- 
vinely conceded to them : Thou, O Lord, by thy holy apostles, 
hast bestowed on those who, in the holy Church, through successive 
times, exercise the priestly office, the power of remitting sins on 
earth, of binding and loosing every chain of unrighteousness ; 
We beseech thee, therefore, for this our brother N., who stands be- 
fore thee, grant to him thy mercy, breaking the fetter of his sins." 
—(App., Note 163.) 

The introduction of this prayer bears the stamp of 
modern innovation, nothing of the kind being in the 
ancient forms. But the body of the petition still re- 
tains the primitive words of supplication, which might 
be offered, with perfect propriety, either by the priest- 
hood or the laity. And as we know that in the early 
ages of Christianity public penitents were reconciled 



190 THE COUNCIL OF OXFORD. [cHAP. XVI. 

publicly, and the whole congregation united in the 
service, it is evident that the language employed must 
have been consonant with the doctrine of St. Augus- 
tin, that the keys of the kingdom of heaven were de- 
livered to the Church (not to the priesthood separate- 
ly) in the person of St. Peter. This, indeed, was the 
doctrine of the fathers generally. When the priest- 
hood had usurped the seat of Christ's authority, by 
positively dispensing the forgiveness of sins in the 
private tribunal of penitence, this doctrine was al- 
tered, and a new form of absolution was adopted, to 
suit the change. 

I shall only add, on this point, that the learned 
Romanist Morinus, in an express treatise on the sub- 
ject, fully proves the conclusion which I have al- 
ready demonstrated from Aquinas himself, namely, 
that the change from the ancient to the modern form 
was in the thirteenth century. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE LATER COUNCILS. 

The Roman doctrine of the Confessional, in the 
shape to which it was finally brought in the fourth 
Council of Lateran, would seem to imply that the 
priesthood were at least conscious of a high character 
for professional purity. But our wonder at their as- 
sumption is not a little increased when we find that 
the very contrary was the fact. It may be well to 
place before the reader some proofs of this from the 
records of two councils, one held in England, and the 



CHAP. XVI.] CORRUPTION OF THE CLERGY. 191 

other on the Continent, within the first quarter of 
the thirteenth century. 

Thus, the Council of Oxford, A.D. 1222, enacts 
the following decree, in its thirty-fourth canon, viz. : 

" The beneficed clergy, or those in Holy Orders, shall not 
presume to keep concubines publicly in their houses, nor have 
access to them with scandal elsewhere." — (App., Note 164.) 

The other testimony is that of a Council held A.D. 

1225, where we read as follows, viz.: 

Canon II. 
" Of the Punishment of Clergy having Concubines. 
"If any of the clergy shall be detected hereafter in the vice 
of incontinence, by publicly keeping a concubine, unless he shall 
forthwith expel her after this canonical admonition, let him be 
immediately deprived both of his office and his benefice. But 
if, even then, he takes no care to avoid the noisomeness of his 
lust, inasmuch as the increase of contumacy demands an in- 
crease of punishment, let him be stricken with the sentence of 
anathema." — (App., Note 165.) 

Another canon follows on the same subject, viz. : 

Canon V. 
" That Clergymen can not leave the Fruits of their Livings to 
their Concubines and illegitimate Children. 
" In order to abolish from the house of the Lord the custom, 
or, rather, the corrupt practice or audacity with which the cler- 
gy (who ought to show the laity, to whom they are placed as 
an example, a model of chasteness), in proof of their final im- 
penitence, leave, by their last will, the fruits of their livings to 
their concubines or bastards, the rigor of the ecclesiastical arm 
ought to be exercised against them." — (App., Note 166.) 

The subject of clerical incontinence, since the un- 
happy introduction of priestly celibacy in the fourth 
century, forms the burden of complaint and difficulty 
in almost all the councils. These canons, however, 
speaking of the custom of keeping concubines pub- 
licly, and leaving the property of the priest, acquired 
in the service of his office, by his last will and testa- 



192 CORRUPTION OF THE CLERGY. [CHAP. XVI, 

ment, to these concubines and their illegitimate chil- 
dren, plainly prove the utter disregard with which the 
ecclesiastical laws had hitherto been treated in rela- 
tion to this matter. The looseness of their morals, 
indeed, appears in so many of the Councils, that a 
volume of citations might be compiled on this point 
alone. All historians agree that the character of the 
monks and of the clergy, with few exceptions, could 
hardly be worse than it was, in general estimation. 
And yet it was in an age like this that a new prerog- 
ative was added to the already vast influence of the 
clergy, by making each individual pastor, in the tri- 
bunal of penitence, the absolute inquisitor, judge, and 
dictator of every soul, male and female, belonging to 
his flock. It was in an age like this that the decis- 
ion of a single priest was pronounced final in the for- 
giveness of sins, and his solitary voice, uttered in se+ 
cret, was to be received as the voice of Christ him- 
self, dispensing the prerogatives of the Most High, 
boldly undertaking to absolve the transgressor, and 
dictating, as if he were endowed with superhuman 
penetration, such works of satisfaction as should com- 
pensate the justice of God and heal the wounds in- 
flicted by iniquity. And thus a power too great for 
the faculties of angels was committed to men, an aw- 
ful proportion of whom were a reproach to the priestly 
profession ! 

But let me pass on to consider the immediate re- 
sults of this vast and important addition to the pre- 
rogatives of the parochial clergy. Anterior to the 
fourth Council of Lateran, we do not find many in- 
structions about the mode in which the priests were 
to discharge their duty toward voluntary penitents. 
After this period, however, the councils and constitu- 
tions of the prelates are more or less copious on the 



CHAP. XVI.] RULES FOR CONFESSION. 193 

subject. Thus the constitutions of the Bishop of 
Coventry, A.D. 1237, give some very precise rules 
for the manner of conducting the work of the Con- 
fessional, a specimen of which will be interesting. 

m Concerning confession we must proceed in this manner : 
Let it be told the person confessing that there are three things 
chiefly which usually hinder men from making a true confes- 
sion : delight in sin, fear of the penance to be enjoined, and 
shame. . . . All things being heard (which the sinner volunta- 
rily reveals), the confessor ought to ask him if any more can be 
recalled to memory. If he replies Yea, let him utter it. If 
he answers No, then the priest ought to supply the defect of 
the person confessing, according to what is written, The just 
man is the first accuser of himself. His friend comes, and will 
examine him. The just, that is, the person confessing, ought 
first to accuse himself; afterward his friend, that is, the priest, 
ought to investigate the sins he has omitted." .... 

" The laity, in general, must be questioned concerning tithes. 
.... And whether the penitent be single or married, he should 
be examined on the seven deadly sins." .... 

" In the case of women, they should be questioned concerning 
witchcrafts and divination. In the case of the single, it must 
be inquired whether they are willing to live chastely until they 
are married: otherwise the confession is worthless. And, in 
like manner, the married must be questioned concerning the 
carnal sins which they committed before wedlock," &c. — {Afp'p., 
Note 167.) 

I have felt constrained to leave one half of this ci- 
tation untranslated, although the learned reader will 
find the remainder in the notes, carefully set down 
from the Latin original. It is, indeed, a point of no 
small difficulty to ascertain how far it is consistent 
with propriety to proceed with such documents ; for 
it is certain that they are an inseparable part of the 
subject, that they form the staple of the Roman Con- 
fessional at the present day, and are a true though 
very brief index to the sort of questions which more 
than a hundred millions of our fellow-creatures, male 
and female, are obliged to answer whenever it pleases 

I 



194 RULES FOR CONFESSION. [CHAP. XVI. 

the priest to interrogate them ; while over the whole 
of what takes place in the confessional an impene- 
trable veil of secrecy is thrown. Moreover, these things 
are not only to be found in the authentic and public 
Councils of the Church of Rome herself — being, in 
fact, the official acts of her highest dignitaries — but 
the same, in substance, are now published in our own 
language and country, for the use of their laity, as an 
essential guide to those who come to confession. And 
yet, so abhorrent are the feelings of our age toward 
the open discussion of such topics, that no writer can 
transfer the mere records of Romanism to his pages 
without incurring the reproach of indelicacy. 

Another set of constitutions, set forth by the Coun- 
cil of Cognac, in the thirty-fourth canon, prescribes 
a similar course of questions to be asked by the con- 
fessor on the subject of licentiousness. And for these, 
also, I must refer to the Appendix, Note 168. 

The Council of Clermont, A.D. 1268, enacted a 
very minute and comprehensive system for the per- 
formance of this new duty of auricular confession. 
In the main, they do not differ from the constitutions 
of Coventry. Only a few points need be specified to 
show the progress of the system. 

" Concerning the sins of carnality, let inquiry be made .... 
about the persons, whether a priest, or a deacon, or a sub-dea- 
con, or a monk. Concerning the time, whether during the per- 
petual solemnities. . . . And if a single layman commit fornica- 
tion, he ought to undergo three years' penance, according to the 
rigor of the canons, fasting on the second, fourth, and sixth days 
of the week, by abstaining from his ordinary food. . . . But be- 
cause the frailty of our time does not suffer so much severity, 
let the priests commute or temper this sort of penalty into pray- 
ers or alms-deeds, or other satisfactions, as may seem to them 
expedient." — (App., Note 169.) 

The Council of Cologne, A.D. 1280, laid down 
some rules designed to restrain the abuses of the Con- 



CHAP. XVI.] RULES FOR CONFESSION. 195 

fessional, none of which, however, could possibly be 
enforced, from the very nature of the system. 

" We command that the parochial priests shall frequently ad- 
monish their subjects, and even enjoin penance, that they may 
often come to confession. And before they come, let them dil- 
igently examine their hearts, willing to confess, and let them 
carefully recall their sins to memory ; and let them come to con- 
fession with grief and a suppliant aspect, as if to the judgment 
of God. And let the priests, as the ministers of God, give the 
utmost diligence to the hearing of confession and enjoining of 
penitence, that they may listen to the person confessing atten- 
tively, diligently, and with modesty." 

" Likewise in hearing confessions, let the priests select a com- 
mon and fit place in the church, that they may be seen by all. 
But let them not hear confessions in obscure and dark places, 
nor out of the church, unless in great necessity or sickness. 

"Also, we command, under pain of excommunication, that 
the priests, in hearing confessions, maintain an humble counte- 
nance, with their eyes on the ground ; nor let them look in the 
face of the person confessing, and especially not of women. 

" We order, likewise, under pain of excommunication, that no 
priest hear the confession of a woman with whom he has sin- 
ned, nor even the companions or encouragers, or instruments of 
his sin, but let him send them, both males and females, to hon- 
est and discreet confessors." 

.... "There is a sacred order, a sacred place concerning the 
sin of carnality and lust, all which are noted in this verse : 

" WJio, what, where, with whom, how often, why, how, when.'''' 

• • • • " Likewise, let no priest in anger, hatred, or even cor- 
poral fear, dare to reveal the confession of any penitent by word 
or sign, generally or specially by saying, I know what sort of 
person thou art. And if he shall reveal it in any manner, and 
shall be convicted of it, he ought to be degraded without mercy. 
If, however, he should need counsel, let him ask for it cautious- 
ly (as it is laid down), without indicating the person in any man- 
ner." 

• • • • " But if any one shall not have confessed to his own 
parish priest fully and wholly at least once during the year, we 
order that the priest shall by no means administer the sacrament 
to him at Easter." 

" Let the priests likewise diligently mark which of their pa- 
rishioners do not come to confession at least once a year, and let 



196 IGNORANCE OF THE PRIESTS. [cHAP. XVI. 

them give in their names to us or our official, or to the ordinary 
of the place, that they may be worthily punished, lest we hold 
the priests themselves responsible for this negligence." — (App., 
Note 170.) 

The Council of Exeter, -held A.D. 1287, set forth 
a very detailed system for the Confessional, in which 
the ignorance of the priests, the flagellation of the pen- 
itent, and some other matters, are deserving of observ- 
ation. 

" Summary, or Mode of exacting Confessions and enjoining Pen- 
ance, by the same Rev. Father Peter, bishop of Exeter, imposed 
upon the Priests of his Diocese to be observed, in the Council of 
Exeter. 

.... "I therefore, Peter of Exeter, deeply considering these 
things, and compassionating the incapacity of the holy pres- 
byters, who hear confessions, whose ignorance, alas! i have 
very often experienced, assign to them the present summa- 
ry, that they may know it for the advantage of themselves and 
of those confessing to them." 

. . . . a Against the sins of the Spirit, they are to enjoin chief- 
ly prayer, humility, meekness, and such like. Against gluttony 
and licentiousness, and covetousness and avarice, they are to en- 
join flagellation of the body, fastings, discipline, and 
pilgrimages." — {App., Note 171.) 

There was one more Council in this century wor- 
thy of especial note. It was assembled at Toulouse, 
under St. Angelus, cardinal and legate of the pope, 
A.D. 1229, and was peculiarly memorable for its en- 
actments concerning the discovery and punishment of 
heretics. But I shall only extract the chapters bear- 
ing on Confession, and on the prohibition of allowing 
the laity to have possession of the Holy Scriptures, 
even in the Latin tongue. 

"Chapter XIII. 

" That all Persons shall confess and commune thrice in every 

Year, otherwise they shall be held suspected of Heresy. 

u All persons of either sex, after they have come to years of 

discretion, shall make confession of their sins three times a 



CHAP. XVI.] THE SCRIPTURES PROHIBITED. 197 

year to their own priest, or to some other with his consent or 
command, being ready to perform the penance enjoined hum- 
bly and to the utmost of their power, and receiving thrice a 
year, at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsunday, the sacrament of 
the Eucharist with all reverence ; so that confession may pre- 
cede the communion, unless perhaps, for some reasonable 
cause, they should abstain from its reception at the time by the 
advice of their own priest. Let the presbyters, therefore, be 
careful about these things, that they may know, by the inspec- 
tion of the names, whether there are any who use subterfuge 
in order to avoid communing : for if any shall abstain from the 
communion, unless by the advice of his own priest, let him be 
held suspected of heresy." 

» Chapter XIV. 
" Tliat the Laity may not have the Books of Scripture, except the 
Psalter and the divine Office, and not even these Books in the 
Vulgar Tongue. 

" "We also prohibit the laity to have the books of the Old 
Testament, or of the New, unless, perhaps, that some might de- 
sire, for devotion, to have the Psalter or the Breviary for the 
divine offices, or the Hours of the blessed Mary. But we 

MOST STRICTLY FORBID THEM TO HAVE THESE BOOKS TRANS- 
LATED INTO THE VULGAR TONGUE." {App., Note 172.) 

These extracts will show the state of the matter, 
up to the age of the Reformation, when the Council 
of Trent, A.D. 1551, put forth the following decrees, 
as the finishing-stroke of the modern system : 

"Session XIV. * Chapter III. 
" This holy Council also teaches that the form of the sacra- 
ment of penance, in which its power chiefly resides, is placed 
in these words of the minister, I absolve thee, &c. To which, 
indeed, by the custom of holy Church, certain prayers are laud- 
ably added, although they do not affect the essence of the form 
itself, nor are they necessary to the administration of this sac- 
rament. And the acts of the penitent himself, namely, con- 
trition, confession, and satisfaction, are, as it were, the elements 
of this sacrament, which acts, forasmuch as they are required 
in the penitent by the institution of God, to the integrity of the 
sacrament, to the full and perfect remission of sins, for this 
reason are called the parts of penitence. And truly the sub- 



198 COUNCIL OF TRENT. [CHAP. XVr. 

stance and effect of this sacrament, so far as concerns its virtue 
and efficacy, is reconciliation with God," &c. — (Aj>j>., Note 173.) 

After a very fair and scriptural statement of con- 
trition, the Council proceeds to dispense with its ne- 
cessity in order to the forgiveness of the sinner, in 
the following words, viz. : 

" Although it may happen sometimes that this contrition is 
perfect in charity, and reconciles man with God before this 
sacrament is received in act, yet the reconciliation itself is not 
to be ascribed to the mere contrition without the intention (voto) 
of receiving the sacrament, which is implied in it. But that 
imperfect contrition which is called attrition, since it is com- 
monly conceived either from the consideration of the infamy 
of sin, or from the fear of hell and punishment, if it excludes 
the intention of sinning, and has the hope of pardon, the Coun- 
cil declares not only that it does not make the man a hypocrite, 
and a greater sinner, but that he even becomes a temple of 
God and impelled by the Holy Ghost, not indeed as yet dwell- 
ing in him, but only moving him, by whom the penitent being 
aided, prepares for himself the way to righteousness. And al- 
though, without the sacrament of penance, it can not lead the 
sinner to justification by itself, nevertheless it prepares him to 
obtain the grace of God in the sacrament of penance." — {Ajpjp., 
Note 174.) 

"Chapter V. 
« Of Confession. 

" From the institution of the Sacrament of Penance, already 
explained, the universal Church has always understood, that the 
entire confession of sins was instituted by the Lord himself, 
and made necessary by the divine law for all who sin after bap- 
tism ; because our Lord Jesus Christ, being about to ascend 
from earth to heaven, left his priests, the vicars of himself, as 
presidents and judges, to whom all mortal crimes might be 
brought into which the faithful of Christ might fall ; to the end 
that by the power of the keys they should pronounce the sen- 
tence of remission or retention of sins. For it is evident that 
the priests can not exercise this judgment without knowing the 
cause ; nor can they observe equity in the imposing of penance, 
if they declare their sins in kind only, and not rather in species, 
and in special detail. From which it is rightly inferred that 
penitents must enumerate in confession all the mortal sins of 



CHAP. XVI.] COUNCIL OF MILAN. 199 

which, after diligent self-examination, they are conscious, even 
the most hidden, including those which are only committed 
against the two last precepts of the Decalogue; which some- 
times wound the soul more seriously, and are more dangerous 
than those which are manifested openly." — (A])]}., Note 175.) 

As the best possible form in which the modern sys- 
tem of the Roman Confessional can be exhibited, I 
add the rules established by the eminent cardinal arch- 
bishop, Charles Borromeo, in the Council of Milan, 
A.D. 1565. 

Speaking of those who should be confessors, the 
sixth chapter of this Council ordains as follows, viz. : 

" Let the bishops adopt this rule in proving them, that they 
be pious, of good morals, learned, prudent, patient, anxious for 
the salvation of souls, and faithful depositories of those things 
which are said in confession ; likewise of advanced age, espe- 
cially those by whom the confessions of women are to be heard." 

" Let not the priests, unless from a necessary cause, hear the 
confessions of women before sunrise or after sunset; nor in cells, 
but publicly in the church, in seats wherein a partition shall 
by all means be interposed between the person confessing and 
the confessor. And the bishops shall take care that seats of this 
kind are constructed in the churches by those whose duty it is, 
as soon as may be." — {App., Note 176.) 

" Neither let them, without necessity, hear the confession of 
any male or female in private houses." — (App., Note 177.) 

" The confessors should be well acquainted with the peni- 
tential canons, and let them admonish the persons confessing of 
the penance which those canons prescribed for every sin, that 
they may study so much the more diligently to beware of sin, 
as they find the Church to be more benignant toward them in 
mitigating the penances of the canons." — (App., Note 178.) 

" Let them impose public penance on those who sin pub- 
licly, as the holy Council of Trent has commanded ; nor may 
they presume to commute this kind of public penance for other 
secret punishments, unless leave be given by the bishop." — 
(App., Note 179.) 

Enough from the fathers and the Councils has now 
been exhibited to enable every intelligent mind to un- 
derstand the several steps by which the Confessional 



200 IMPORTANCE- OF THE SYSTEM. [CHAP. XVI. 

has attained its modern! domination. The selection 
of these various testimonies has demanded no small 
labor on my part, and I am quite aware that the care- 
ful perusal of them may be deemed a wearisome task 
on the part of some among my readers ; but I have 
thought it the surest, if not the only, way by which 
the delusive statements of the Romanists might be 
thoroughly exposed, and the true rise and progress of 
their cherished usurpation demonstrated. I do not, 
indeed, charge them all with willful misrepresentation, 
for I doubt not that a large number of their priests 
and all their people are alike deceived by the bold and 
constant reiteration of their claims to divine authori- 
ty. It was well said by one of their cardinals at the 
Council of Constance, quoting Cicero in his book of 
Paradoxes, that "there is nothing so incredible but it 
will become credible by repetition."^ And it can 
not be denied that the Confessional enjoys all the ad- 
vantage of the principle. It is inculcated upon them 
in childhood ; it is renewed at every administration 
of the communion ; and false as it is in its theory, 
and dangerous in its consequences both to priest and 
people, it is doubtless regarded with perfect sincerity 
as the great bond by which alone the laity can be kept 
firm in their allegiance, and their spiritual masters 
be secured in the prerogatives of their extraordinary 
power. 

Before I conclude, it will be my duty to notice the 
other arguments of the Trentine Catechism, derived 
from the supposed superiority of their system in its 
practical results, and to present a sketch of the Con- 
fessional as administered by the Jesuits in the seven- 
teenth century. But it may be well to premise a few 
pages of candid admissions from the learned Fleury, 

* Hard. Concilia, t. viii., p. 217. 



CHAP. XVII.] STATEMENTS OF FLEURY. 201 

who, although a stanch Romanist, has displayed more 
honesty and frankness than we can often find among 
the priesthood of his communion. To his testimony, 
therefore, I shall devote the following chapter, and I 
think the reader will find it worthy of his serious at- 
tention. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



It will be remembered, I trust, that the fourth 
Council of Lateran established, throughout the whole 
"Western Church, the compulsory work of auricular 
confession at least once in every year, under the 
penalty of exclusion from the Church when living, 
and deprivation of Christian burial when dead. I 
have called this penalty a virtual excommunication, 
because no worse consequence was attached, by many 
of the ancient canons, to the most atrocious crimes. 
Now I propose to show how plainly the Roman Cath- 
olic historian Fleury, prior of Argenteuil and confess- 
or to the king, acknowledges that this was a perfect 
innovation, although it had begun among the monks 
some centuries before. 

The first introduction of compulsory confession is 
referred by this learned author to the year 763, in 
the rules established by St. Chrodegang, bishop of 
Metz, for his community of canons residentiary, which 
in many of its features was a sort of monastic insti- 
tution. The words of the historian are as follows : 

" It was ordered that the clergy should confess to the bishop 
I 2 



202 STATEMENTS OF FLEURY. [CHAP. XVII. 

twice a year, namely, at the commencement of Lent, and be- 
tween the middle of August and the first of November, saving 
the right of confessing at other times as often as they would, 
either to the bishop or to a priest deputed by him. If any one 
should conceal a sin in confessing to the bishop, or seek to con- 
fess to other persons, the bishop, if he could discover it, should 
punish him by whipping or imprisonment. This is the first 

TIME THAT I FIND CONFESSION COMMANDED." (App., Note 

180.) 

The earliest instance furnished by our historian of 
reconciling penitents immediately after confession, 
without waiting until their penance was fulfilled, oc- 
curs in the rule established by Boniface, the famous 
apostle of Germany, as he was called, and a martyr. 
The date of this rule was about A.D. 750. Fleury 
quotes the words of Boniface as follows, viz. : 

" Since divers accidents hinder us from fully observing the 
canons concerning the reconciliation of penitents, each priest, 
as soon as he has received their confession, shall take care to 
reconcile them by prayer; that is to say, he shall not wait un- 
til their penance is accomplished." — (App., Note 181.) 

The Council of Chalons-sur-Saone, which was held 
A.D. 813, and which I have already cited in part, 
furnishes some interesting evidence of the progress of 
innovation ; and Fleury gives the following condensed 
view of its canons, viz. : 

" The practice of penitence, according to the ancient canons, 
is abolished in most places ; and this is the reason why we must 
implore the aid of the emperor, to the end that public sinners 
may perform public penance, and be excommunicated and rec- 
onciled according to the canons. Some do not confess thor- 
oughly, and therefore we must warn them that they confess 
sins of thought as well as outward sins. They must not only 
confess to God, but to the priests." — (App., Note 182.) 

"We ought to impose penance according to Scripture and 
the custom of the Church, and banish altogether the books 
which they call penitentials, of which the errors are certain 
and the authors uncertain, and which flatter sinners, by impos- 
ing for great sins light and unaccustomed penances ." — (App., 
Note 183.) 



CHAP. XVII.] PENITENTIALS FORBIDDEN. 203 

But this very abuse which is here condemned is 
precisely what the priests have practiced, by the au- 
thority of the fourth Council of Lateran, ever since 
the thirteenth century, and what they can hardly 
avoid, when the whole business of penitential disci- 
pline is left to their private discretion, according to 
their established modern system. Fleury proceeds, 
however, with some further testimony from this frank- 
spoken document, as follows : 

" The Council of Chalons continues : There is great abuse 
in the pilgrimages which are made to Rome, to Tours, and 
elsewhere. The priests and clerks pretend in this way to pu- 
rify themselves from their sins, and that they ought to be re- 
stored to their functions ; the laymen imagine that they have 
obtained impunity for their sins, past and future ; the powerful 
derive from them a pretext for exaction upon the poor, and the 
poor a title to mendicity." — (App., Note 184.) 

The Council of Paris, held A.D. 829, speaks still 
more plainly : 

" Many priests, saith the Council, whether by negligence or 
ignorance, impose upon sinners other penances than those 
which the canons prescribe, availing themselves of certain lit- 
tle books which they call Penitentials. For this reason, we have 
all ordered that every bishop in his diocese shall diligently search 
for these erroneous books, in order to put them in the fire, that 
the ignorant priests may no longer use them to deceive men. 
And these priests shall be accurately instructed by their bish- 
ops concerning the discretion with which they should question 
those who confess, and the measure of penance which they 
ought to impose on them ; for up to this time, through their 
fault, many crimes remain unpunished, to the great peril of 
souls. The Council recommends especially the rejection of 
the new penitentials, which deceived sinners by vain hopes, and 
that they should hold fast to the severity of the ancient canons, 
with respect to the abominable impurities which were then but 
too common." — (App., Note 185.) 

Here it is abundantly manifest that the secrecy of 
the Confessional was not yet established, and that the 
system was very different from what is now universal 



204 STATEMENTS OF FLEURY. [cHAP. XVII, 

among the Romanists ; for the modern priests have 
no idea of any other course than that which these 
Councils so strongly condemned. Books are still used, 
drawn up by the Roman casuists on a plan resem- 
bling that of the old Penitentials ; and those of the 
Jesuits, so admirably exposed by Pascal in his Pro- 
vincial Letters, are far more accommodating to sinners 
than any which had preceded them. Who among them 
would now be so absurd as to recommend a return to 
the strictness of the ancient canons ? Who would 
now venture to declare how often crimes go unpun- 
ished by any adequate penance ? What Council of 
Paris would now order the bishops to put the modern 
Penitentials in the fire, and honestly declare that the 
priests, in their ignorance, were only deceiving their 
victims ? Doubtless the administration of discipline 
was in a deplorable way when these Councils pub- 
lished their complaints in the ninth century ; but now 
the whole work of the Confessional is wrapped up in 
impenetrable secrecy, and the detection of abuses and 
the correction of error are equally impossible. And 
Rome has even learned to praise what the early Coun- 
cils censured so severely. Even the canonized Charles 
Borromeo tells the confessors to remind their penitents 
of the ancient canons, not in order to apply them, but 
in order to arouse the gratitude of sinners for the in- 
dulgence of this unchangeoMe Church, in doing them 
away, and making the pardon of their sins so easy and 
light a business in comparison ! 

But let me return to our historian. The next nov- 
elty which Fleury notices in this matter is the en- 
forcement of penance by way of penalty for disobedi- 
ence to the papal requisition. This he attributes to 
Pope Nicholas, A.D. 867, as follows, viz.: 

" We see, in the letters of Pope Nicholas, three other ex- 



CHAP. XVII.] PENANCE ENFORCED: 205 

amples of these canonical penances, like to those of the first ages; 
but what appears strange is, that he imposes penances by men- 
ace on sinners who asked not for them. For Stephen, count 
of Auvergne, having driven Sigon, the bishop of Clermont, from 
his diocese, and put a usurper in his place, the pope commands 
him to restore him immediately. . . . Otherwise, saith the pope, 
we forbid you the use of wine and flesh until you come to 
Rome and present yourself before us." — (App., Note 186.) 

The historian presents another innovation, now, 
however, perfectly legalized by the Roman Church, 
in the commutation of penitence for money, which 
was openly adopted in the instructions of Bouchard, 
bishop of Worms, A.D. 1022, viz. : 

" For example, he who can not fast, for one day of fasting on 
bread and water shall sing fifty psalms on his knees in the 
Church, and shall feed one poor man for that day; in consider- 
ation of which he shall take what nourishment he pleases, ex- 
cept wine, flesh, and fat. One hundred genuflections shall take 
place of the fifty psalms, and the rich may redeem themselves 
for money." — (App., Note 187.) 

I have shown at large a still earlier introduction 
of this abomination in the Ecclesiastical Laws of 
King Edgar, but who can say how much further the 
same principle is carried in the secret and perfectly 
irresponsible Confessional of a later day ? 

The canon of the Council of Toulouse, forbidding 
the laity to have the Scriptures, has been already 
quoted from the original ; but Fleury observes, with 
respect to it, that it was a novelty. 

»« This is the first time that I find this prohibition, but we 
may explain it favorably by saying, that the minds of men were 
so excited, that they could not arrest the controversies but by 
taking away the sacred books, which the heretics abused." — 
(App., Note 188.) 

We must remember that our historian was a Ro- 
manist ; since otherwise it is impossible that he could 
have attempted to excuse such an impious absurdity 
as the taking away the only infallible record which 



206 STATEMENTS OF FLEURY. [cHAP. XVH. 

the wisdom of God had given for the guidance of His 
people, under the pretext of opposing heresy. During 
centuries of darkness, however, and even in the free- 
dom and intelligence of the present age, the Church 
of Rome has shown the same desire to discourage, 
and, when it is possible, to prevent, the reading of the 
Bible. 

I shall proceed to cite several other passages from 
this historian, because, making due allowance for his 
being a Romanist, he has spoken of the melancholy 
changes which took place in the penitential system of 
the Church, with truth and candor. My readers, I 
trust, will mark his statements with care, and re- 
member that when a Romanist of unquestionable em- 
inence and learning has acknowledged so much, it is 
a fair conclusion that a great deal more must belong 
to the whole truth of the picture. 

•" The canonical penitences were still in force at the end of 
the eleventh century. . . . But they imagined, I know not on 
what ground, that each sin of the same kind merited its peni- 
tence ; that if, for example, a homicide ought to be expiated by 
a penance of ten years, it must require an hundred years for 
ten homicides ; which rendered penitence impossible, and the 
canons ridiculous." — (App., Note 189.) 

"After they had rendered penitences impossible by thus mul- 
tiplying them, they were obliged to come to compensations and 
estimations, such as we see in the decree of Bouchard, and in 
the writings of Peter Damiani. These consisted of psalms, genu- 
flections, flagellations, alms, and pilgrimages : all acts which men 
could perform without being converted. . . . Penances rendered 
by proxy were much less allowable, and the castigation which 
a holy monk gave himself for the sake of a sinner was not a me- 
dicinal penance for that sinner ; for sin is not like a pecuniary 
debt, which any other person can pay in discharge of the debtor, 
and in any sort of money which is current, but it is a malady 
which must be cured in the person of the sick." — (App., Note 
190.) 

This honest declaration of Fleury is worthy of spe- 



CHAP. XVII.] STATEMENTS OF FLEURY. 207 

cial remark, because it amounts to a direct impeach- 
ment, by a learned and sincere Romanist, of the doc- 
trine of the Catechism of Trent, p. 272, viz., that one 
may satisfy for another : a doctrine of which it is 
hard to say which is the most glaring, its impious in- 
terference with the sole office of Christ, its peril to 
the sinner, or its gross inconsistency with the truth of 
the Gospel system. Our author proceeds as follows : 

" Another abuse was the forced penances. I find some of 
these in Spain from the seventh century. Afterward the bish- 
ops, seeing many sinners who did not come to submit themselves 
to penance, complained in the Parliaments, and besought the 
princes to constrain them by their temporal power. But this 
showed a great ignorance of the nature of penitence, which 
consists in repentance, and in the conversion of the heart ; it 
was putting the sinner, who, in order to prevent divine justice, 
punishes himself voluntarily, in the same class with the crimi- 
nal, whom human justice punishes in spite of himself." — (App., 
Note 191.) 

Speaking of the official course of Pope Gregory 
VII., Fleury remarks as follows, viz. : 

" The worst evil was that he sought to sustain spiritual pun- 
ishments by those which were temporal, and incompetent to any 
spiritual purpose. Others had already attempted the same. I 
have observed that the bishops implored the aid of the secular 
arm to force sinners to penitence, and that the popes had be- 
gun, more than two hundred years previously, to wish to regu- 
late, by their authority, the rights of kings. Gregory VII. fol- 
lowed those new maxims, and pushed them still further ; pre- 
tending openly that, as pope, he had a right to depose sovereigns 
who were rebels against the Church. He rested this pretense 
chiefly on excommunication. — (Ajpp., Note 192.) 

" Let us see now the consequences of these principles. Sup- 
pose a prince to be unworthy and accused of crimes, like Henry 
IV., king of Germany. . . . He is cited to Rome, to render ac- 
count of his conduct, and does not appear. After several cita- 
tions, the pope excommunicates him : he despises the censure. 
The pope declares him deposed from royalty, absolves his sub- 
jects from their oath of allegiance, forbids them to obey him, and 
permits, or even orders them, to elect another king. What must 



208 STATEMENTS OF FLEURY. [cHAP. XVII. 

be the result ? Seditions and civil wars in the State, and schisms 
in the Church." — (App., Note 193.) 

" Let us return, then, to the maxims of sage antiquity. A 
sovereign may be excommunicated like a private man, I grant 

it, but the results should only be spiritual. ... It was never 

pretended, at least in the most enlightened ages of the Church, 
that a private man, excommunicated, lost the ownership of his 
property, or of his slaves, or the power of a parent over his 
children. Jesus Christ, in establishing His Gospel, did noth- 
ing by force, but all by persuasion, according to the remark of 
St. Augustin. He has said that His kingdom was not of this 
world, and he was not willing even to assume the authority of ar- 
biter between two brothers His apostles and their successors 

followed the same plan It was not till after more than a 

thousand years that they undertook to form a new system, and 
to exalt the chief of the Church into a sovereign monarch even 
with respect to the temporal power." — (App., Note 194.) 

" Gregory VII.," continues our candid historian, " allowed 
himself to be drawn into the error already favored, that God is 
bound to make His justice shine forth in the present life. From 
this it was that in his letters he promises temporal prosperity 
to those who should be faithful to St. Peter, besides the ex- 
pectation of eternal life ; and threatens the rebels with the loss 
of both the one and the other. . . . But God does not work mira- 
cles at the will of men, and it appears that He designed to 
confound the rashness of this prophecy. . . . Far from correct- 
ing King Henry, the pope only gives him occasion to commit 
new crimes ; he excites cruel wars, which throw Germany and 
Italy into flames ; he brings a schism into the Church ; they 
besiege himself in Rome ; he is obliged to fly, and finally dies 
in exile at Salerno."— (App., Note 195.) 

Now here I pray the reader to observe the argu- 
ment of Fleury against the new system of tyrannical 
compulsion adopted by the papacy in reference to the 
deposition of kings who had incurred excommunica- 
tion. He declares rightly that our Lord and Saviour 
" did nothing by force, but all by persuasion," quot- 
ing St. Augustin. But it is manifest that his argu- 
ment applies with far greater emphasis to the mon- 
strous abuse of auricular confession ; for, up to the 
thirteenth century, Christians, once admitted to the 



CHAP. XVII.] STATEMENTS OF FLEURY. 209 

communion of the Church, could not be deprived of 
it, unless they were convicted, on competent testi- 
mony, of gross sins, whereby their brethren were just- 
ly offended. Then, in the arrogance of priestly des- 
potism, the fourth Council of Lateran commanded 
every believer, without exception, to confess his very 
thoughts in private, and to perform whatever penance 
the confessor might enjoin, under the penalty of pub- 
lic infamy ; being prohibited from entering the Church 
while living, and denied Christian burial after death : 
that is to say, they established a perfectly new kind 
of sin, unknown before, and entirely unauthorized, 
and placed it in the same rank with the deadliest of- 
fenses, and punished it in a similar manner by a sen- 
tence almost equivalent to the greater excommunica- 
tion ! Here was force applied to every one, male 
and female, grinding all into the dust under the feet 
of the priesthood. What was an occasional outbreak 
of hostility between a pope and a king, in comparison 
with this sweeping and universal tyranny, exercised 
by a constant and perpetual system, over every heart 
and conscience in Christendom ! To have been con- 
sistent with his own principles, therefore, Fleury ought 
to have denounced the Confessional as a yet more 
grievous usurpation than the papal claim to depose 
rebellious princes. But his candor on the latter sub- 
ject was safe in France, where the assumption of 
temporal power by the popes had usually been suc- 
cessfully resisted. Whereas an equal degree of can- 
dor on the other would have struck at the power of 
the priesthood, and therefore his thoughts upon the 
subject could not be so openly proclaimed, although 
he has intimated them in many places pretty clearly. 
But let me return to our author, and hear him on 
the subject of the general decline of spiritual disci- 



210 STATEMENTS OF FLEURY. [CHAP. XVII 

pline which followed the papal indulgences first grant- 
ed in the Crusades. 

" Of all the results of the Crusades," saith he, " the most im- 
portant to religion has been the cessation of the canonical pen- 
itences. I say the cessation, and not the abrogation ; for they 
have never been abolished expressly by the Constitution of any 
pope, or of any Council. . . .1 have seen nothing similar in the 
whole course of history. The canonical penances fell insensi- 
bly through the weakness of the bishops and the hardness of 
sinners, through negligence, through ignorance ; but they re- 
ceived the mortal blow, as I may say, through the indulgences 
of the Crusade."— (App., Note 196.) 

The learned historian goes on to explain himself 
in the following interesting passage : 

" I know," saith he, » that this was not the intention of Pope 
Urban and the Council of Clermont. They expected, on the 
contrary, to obtain two benefits at once : to deliver the Holy 
Land, and facilitate penitence to an infinity of sinners, who 
would never have undertaken it otherwise. . . . But it is to be 
feared that they had not sufficiently considered the solid reasons 
of the ancient canons which had regulated the times and the 
exercises of penitence. The saints who had established them 
had it not only in view to punish sinners, they sought chiefly 
to be assured of their conversion, and wished, besides, to warn 
them against falling again. They began, therefore, by separat- 
ing them from the rest of the faithful, and they kept them thus 
shut up during the whole time of their penitence, except when 
they had to assist in church at the common prayers and in- 
structions. Thus they kept away the occasions of sin ; and the 
recollection of this retreat gave to penitents the leisure and op- 
portunity to make serious reflections on the enormity of sin, the 
rigor of the divine justice, eternal punishment, and the other 
terrible truths which the priests who had charge of them failed 
not to set before them, in order to excite in them the spirit of 
compunction. Afterward they comforted them, they encour- 
aged them, and they confirmed them by degrees in the resolu- 
tion to renounce sin forever, and lead a new life." — (App., 
Note 197.) 

" It was not till the eighth century that they introduced pil- 
grimages to take the place of satisfaction ; and these began to 
ruin penitence by distractions and occasions of relapse. Still, 



CHAP. XVII.] EVIL OF THE CRUSADES. 211 

however, these individual pilgrimages were much less danger- 
ous than the Crusades." — (App., Note 198.) 

"It was, so to speak, sinners all raiv, who, without conver- 
sion of heart, and without previous preparation, unless, perhaps, 
a confession such as it was, went, for the expiation of their sins, 
to expose themselves to the most dangerous occasions for com- 
mitting them anew. Men chosen from persons of the most ap- 
proved virtue would have found it difficult to preserve them- 
selves in such voyages. It is true that some of them prepared 
themselves seriously for death, by paying their debts, restoring 
property wrongfully acquired, and satisfying all those whom 
they had injured ; but it must be also acknowledged that the 
Crusade served as a pretext for men oppressed by debt to get 
rid of their creditors, for malefactors to avoid the punishment 
of their crimes, for unruly monks to quit their cloisters, for 
abandoned women to continue their disorders more freely, since 
many of them were found in the train of these armies, and 
some of them disguised as men." — (App., Note 199.) 

" The Crusaders, who established themselves in the East 
after the conquest of Jerusalem, far from being converted, cor- 
rupted themselves more and more." — {App., Note 200.) 

"At length," continues Fleury, "Jerusalem and the Holy Land 
fell again into the power of the infidels, and the Crusades have 
ceased for four hundred years ; but the canonical penitences 
have not returned. While the Crusades continued, they took 
the place of penitence, not only for those who assumed the 
cross voluntarily, but for all great sinners, to whom the bishops 
would give absolution only on condition that they would per- 
form in person the service of the Holy Land during a certain 
time, or would maintain for that purpose a number of soldiers. 
It seemed, then, that, after the end of the Crusades, they ought 
to have returned to the ancient penitences ; but the use of 
them was interrupted for two hundred years at least, and the 
penitences had become arbitrary. The bishops scarcely any 
longer entered into the details of sacramental administration ; 
the mendicant friars were the most ordinary ministers of the 
sacraments, and these transient missionaries could not follow 
long enough the conduct of a penitent to examine the progress 
and solidity of his conversion, as the proper pastors had for- 
merly done : these monks were obliged to dispatch sinners 
promptly in order to pass to others." — (App., Note 201.) 

From the mischiefs consequent upon the Crusades, 



212 ERRORS OF THE CASUISTS. [cHAP. XVII. 

our author proceeds to the corruption introduced by 
the Schoolmen and the Casuists : 

*« They treated morality in the Schools," saith he, " like the 
rest of theology, by reasoning rather than by authority, and 
after the manner of problems, putting into question every thing, 
even the clearest truths ; from which have resulted, in the 
course of time, so many decisions of the Casuists, far removed, 
not only from the purity of the Gospel, but from right reason ; 
for where will men not go in these matters when they give 
themselves all liberty to speculate? Moreover, the Casuists 
applied themselves much more to impart the knowledge of sins 
than to show their remedies. They occupied themselves chiefly 
in deciding what constituted mortal sin, and to distinguish the 
virtue to which each sin was contrary, whether to justice, pru- 
dence, or temperance ; they studied, as one may say, to put 
sins below their standard, and to justify many actions, which 
the ancients, less subtle, but more sincere, judged to be crim- 
inal."— (App; Note 202.) 

Such has become the practical administration of 
the Confessional, according to the admissions even 
of this learned Romanist. But how little did he 
know — nay, how little does any man know — of the 
real state of a process conducted by so many thou- 
sand priests of different character, honesty, piety, and 
judgment, toward millions of subjects, male and fe- 
male, young and old, in every rank and condition of 
society, all in profound secrecy, under no check of 
human responsibility, with every possible temptation 
to abuse, and with the most powerful motives of su- 
perstition to guard them from detection ! 

And now, after showing by so long an array of 
witnesses, the rise, progress, and final consummation 
of the Confessional in the Church of Rome, I have 
next to consider the argument of expediency, as it is 
presented in the Catechism of Trent, and to test its 
validity by an appeal to facts, with especial regard to 
the developments of the Jesuit system. 



CHAP. XVIII.] RESULTS OF THE CONFESSIONAL. 213 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ARGUMENT OF EXPEDIENCY. 

The advocates of Rome are dexterous logicians, and 
neglect no mode of recommending their favorite insti- 
tution which is likely to produce an advantageous im- 
pression. Hence the authors of the Catechism of 
Trent boldly assume the argument of expediency, as 
if it were decisive in their favor. " Abolish sacra- 
mental confession," say they, "and that moment you 
deluge society with all sorts of secret crimes — crimes, 
too, and others of still greater enormity, which men, 
once depraved by vicious habits, will not dread to 
commit in open day. The salutary shame that at- 
tends confession restrains licentiousness, bridles desire, 
and coerces the evil propensities of human nature."^ 

If there were any basis of truth for this lofty as- 
sumption, it would constitute, of itself, a powerful rec- 
ommendation of the Roman system. But I do not 
hesitate to pronounce it an absolute fallacy, in direct 
conflict with the whole tenor of history and experience. 
I deny not, indeed, that there is an intrinsic difficulty 
in the secret nature of this peculiar institution, which 
forbids our speculating upon its results in every case 
of individual application. Neither do I deny the theo- 
retical possibility of its being so administered as to be 
useful, in some respects, to those who are deprived of 
the far superior teaching of the Word of God. And 
yet I am well persuaded that few impartial and un- 
prejudiced observers can look at its practical effects on 
the broad scale of national morals and character with- 

* Page 254. 



214 RESULTS OF THE CONFESSIONAL. [cHAP. XVIII. 

out being perfectly convinced of its pernicious influ- 
ence, since the fruits of the system correspond most 
accurately to the anticipations which a thoughtful and 
religious mind would form in reflecting upon its un- 
scriptural rules and principles of action. 

For who has not read of the awful immorality, the 
licentiousness and degradation of the Roman priest- 
hood themselves, during the ages of darkness which 
preceded the Reformation ? Who is so ignorant as 
not to know that many of their popes, their bishops, 
and even their religious orders, were a reproach not 
only to the Church of Christ, but even to humanity ? 
Their own Councils and historians bear witness to the 
fact ; and notwithstanding the ingenious efforts of 
their modern writers to beguile the public mind upon 
the subject — assisted, I am sorry to say, by some 
nominal Protestants, who have sacrified the evidence 
of truth in the service of a spurious liberality — yet 
the record is engraved upon the history of Europe in 
characters of crime and blood which are perfectly in- 
delible. 

And how does the argument of expediency appear, 
in the aspect of the nations, since the Reformation of 
the sixteenth century ? Where has the boasted moral 
superiority of the Confessional been found in the coun- 
tries which continued subject to the papal scepter ? 
What portions of the globe were so noted for robberies 
and assassinations as the very territories of the pope- 
dom ? Where were chastity and conjugal fidelity so 
lightly regarded ? Where was, notoriously, so little 
restraint upon the worst passions of our nature, lust, 
malice, and revenge ? Where was the administration 
of justice so uncertain, bribery so shameless, personal 
liberty so insecure, faction so fierce, cupidity so un- 
scrupulous, despotism so cruel ? 



CHAP. XVIII.] RESULTS OF THE CONFESSIONAL. 215 

Was all this the fault of the people ? No, truly. 
These countries were once far in advance of the civ- 
ilization of Europe. The fairest heritage of the an- 
cient world had fallen into the hands of the pope, with 
all the noble advantages of the Roman race and char- 
acter, all the treasures of classic literature, all the 
precious remains of the arts, all the inspiring associa- 
tions of great names and high achievements. Spain, 
in the sixteenth century, stood proudly eminent among 
the first powers of the Continent. Naples, Genoa, 
Florence, Venice, were all distinguished among their 
cotemporaries. No better qualities could have been 
desired for the true genius of Christianity to mould 
into virtue, than the people possessed, until they had 
been debased for successive generations by the yoke 
of the Confessional. 

And now, after three hundred years have passed, 
who that is not willfully blind, can look at the prog- 
ress of the nations of Christendom without perceiv- 
ing the marvelous difference between those countries 
where the religion of the Bible has been established, 
and those in which the religion of the priest has con- 
tinued its oppressive sway ? Who can fail to observe 
the rapid advancement of the Protestant portions of 
the earth, when compared with the papal, in the use- 
ful arts, in commerce, in literature, in education, in 
civil rights, in social privileges, in moral sense, in po- 
litical influence ? We have only, for example, to 
survey Italy, Spain, Portugal, and South America, 
in contrast with England, Holland, and the United 
States. We have only to look at the mass of the 
Roman population in Ireland, and compare them, in 
morals and intelligence, with their Protestant coun- 
trymen. We have only, in a word, to try the ques- 
tion by any reasonable standard of existing facts, and 



216 RESULTS OP THE CONFESSIONAL. [CHAP. XVIII. 

it will be obvious to any candid mind that the su- 
premacy of the Confessional, instead of being friendly 
to the true interests of nations, has pressed them down 
below the general level, and kept them far behind the 
rest in all the better objects of earthly energy and 
devotion. 

And yet this contrast would doubtless have been 
much more striking than it is, if it were not for the 
fact that the principles of the Reformed Churches have 
greatly modified the practical operation of Romanism, 
even in many of those places where Popery is supreme. 
The constant effort to proselyte Protestants, the mo- 
tives of interest, the arguments of policy, and the sym- 
pathies of social intercourse, have all tended to influ- 
ence most beneficially the proper results of the papal 
system throughout the Continent of Europe. They 
operate, to a considerable extent, even in the metrop- 
olis of the pontiff, Rome itself; since it is obvious 
that a constant power must be exerted in this way, 
however indirectly and unconsciously, by the wealthy 
crowds who come from every quarter of the civilized 
world, to admire the venerable ruins of ancient days, 
and to luxuriate among the paintings, the statues, and 
the ecclesiastical magnificence of " the eternal city." 

I am well aware, however, that this is an invidious 
topic. And assuredly it is one which I should have 
gladly passed over without remark, if the proud boast 
of our adversaries had not challenged a reply. It 
gives me no pleasure, but, on the contrary, the deepest 
pain, to be forced to notice the evil results of any pro- 
fessedly religious system. But I can not pass by the 
assumption of morality which is made by Romanists 
themselves an important branch of the argument in 
their favor. 

And yet I willingly grant the propriety and justice 



CHAP. XVIII.] SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. 217 

of such an argument, if the fact assumed were capa- 
ble of demonstration. The word of the Redeemer 
Himself has established the maxim, By their fruits 
ye shall know them. Let the advocates of Popery, 
then, manifest to the world the superiority which they 
claim, by showing when, where, and how their sys- 
tem has produced a purer and higher moral standard 
among the masses of their followers than the Reformed 
Churches exhibit. Let them not merely assert, but 
prove, the happy results of their Confessional, by dis- 
playing a more fervent philanthropy, a larger intelli- 
gence, a stricter love of truth, a sterner honesty, a 
more meek and quiet spirit, a better regulated domes- 
tic life, a more self-denying temperance, or any other 
quality to which they can appeal, as evidence to jus- 
tify their lofty assumption. Here is the test which 
will bring the matter home to the common sense and 
observation of every civilized community. And to 
that test I am perfectly willing to submit the question. 
But before I leave this part of my subject, I owe 
it to the reader to present another aspect of the case, 
which perhaps affords the only direct access to the 
practical history of the Confessional since the Ref- 
ormation. It is derived from the celebrated attack 
of Pascal and his fellow Jansenists upon the Jesuits, 
about the middle of the seventeenth century. Both 
the parties belonged to the same communion. Both 
numbered, in their respective ranks, the greatest lu- 
minaries of their age. The quarrel lasted long, and 
the strife was waged with an abundant amount of 
theological subtlety and bitterness. And the result 
proved that the Jansenists were right in the main 
points of their accusation, for the Jesuits were ex- 
pelled from the nations of Europe by the governments 
themselves, as dangerous to the safety of the State, 

K 



218 SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. [_ CHAF * XVIII. 

and the pope was reluctantly compelled to abolish 
their order. 

Time had almost committed this internal contro- 
versy to oblivion in the public mind, when the resto- 
ration of the "Jesuits by Pope Pius VII., August 7 7 
1814, revived the subject, and gave fresh interest to 
the work of Pascal, which first drew the attention of 
the world at large to the systematic corruption of the 
Confessional, as it had been administered during the 
better part of a century by the most powerful and 
favored body of ecclesiastics in the Church of Rome. 
Of course, it is impossible to prove by direct evidence 
how far the system of the Jesuits was followed by 
the other priests belonging to the papal communion. 
Nor do I wish the reader to forget that many voices 
among the Roman priesthood were raised against their 
doctrine, and that the pope condemned it. Neverthe- 
less, there are many circumstances to be taken into 
the account before we can settle the real character of 
that condemnation ; namely, that the Jansenists, who 
were the most strenuous opponents of the Jesuits, were 
promptly condemned for certain errors in the doctrine 
of election, and not only condemned, but persecuted; 
that the Jesuits were not condemned until almost 
twenty years afterward, and, even when condemned, 
were secretly indulged, and actually continued their 
order, notwithstanding it was formally abolished, from 
A.D. 1773 to A.D. 1814; that they had been posi- 
tively expelled by the governments of Europe many 
years before the pope would interfere ; that he did not 
condemn them at last, until he was compelled by mo- 
tives of expediency ; that they have since been re- 
stored to their former rights and privileges ; and that 
notwithstanding they have within a few years been 
again expelled from several places, and even from 



CHAP. XVIII.] SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. 219 

Rome itself, yet they still continue to be the most 
active and favored agents of the papacy. It should 
further be remembered that the Jesuits could have had 
no other motive, in their corrupt administration of the 
Confessional, than to recommend themselves and their 
Church to the prevailing habits of the times ; and it 
is difficult to see why the same motive should not in- 
fluence, more or less, the general system among their 
brethren, on the principle that like causes produce 
like effects. And, finally, in justice to those much- 
abused men, it should be observed that they defend- 
ed themselves pertinaciously, on the ground that they 
had taught nothing new in principle, but that the 
very same maxims were in use among the Domini- 
cans and others long before the existence of their So- 
ciety ; the only difference being that they were not 
published so openly to the world, nor applied so ex- 
tensively to their proper consequences. 

With these remarks, I shall now present to the 
reader, from the famous Provincial Letters of Pascal, 
some of the principal maxims of the Jesuits, to guide 
the administration of the Confessional, in the seven- 
teenth century.^ I ought, perhaps, to add that the 
author was not a priest, but a layman of the most 
brilliant and profound genius, equally remarkable for 
his attainments in mathematics, in general literature, 
and in theology, and of the highest character for prob- 
ity, for austere and even ascetic piety, and for his 
fervent attachment to the Church of Rome. 

I commence with Pascal's statement of the gener- 
al policy of the Jesuits, which he explains in the fol- 
lowing terms, viz. : 

* The original will be found in the Appendix, from the Amsterdam 
edition of A.D. 1735. It may be well to apprise the French reader, 
however, that the orthography is not according to the " Academy." 



220 SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. [cHAP. XVIII. 

" Know, then, that their object is not to corrupt morals ; that 
is not their design. But neither have they for their only end 
that of reforming them ; this would be bad policy. Here is 
their idea. They have a sufficiently good opinion of them- 
selves to believe that it is useful and even necessary to the in- 
terests of religion that their credit should extend every where, 
and that they should govern all consciences. And because the 
severe maxims of the Gospel are fitted to govern some sorts 
of persons, they avail themselves of these on those occasions 
which are favorable to them. But as these same maxims do 
not agree with the design of the majority of mankind, they 
leave them in consideration of such persons, in order that they 
may have somewhat to satisfy every one. For this reason it 
is that, as they have to do with persons of every condition and 
of different nations, it becomes necessary to have casuists suit- 
ed to all this diversity." — {App., Note 203.) 

" From this principle you may easily perceive that if they 
had none but lax casuists, they would ruin their principal de- 
sign, which is to embrace all the world, since those who are 
truly pious seek a course more severe. But as there are not 
many of this sort, they do not want many severe directors to 
conduct them. They have a few of them for the few; while 
the crowd of lax casuists offer themselves to the crowd of those 
who seek for laxity." — {App., Note 204.) 

" It is by this obliging and accommodating conduct, as Fa- 
ther Petau calls it, that they offer their arms to all the world. . . 
By this they retain all their friends, and defend themselves 
against all their enemies." — {App., Note 205.) 

Such being, according to Pascal, the general ob- 
ject of the Jesuit system, I proceed to the state- 
ments of the accommodating class on the subject of 
transgression. And the reader will bear in mind that 
the passages in italics are quotations from the most 
eminent writers of that order. 

" An action can not be imputed as a sin, unless God gives us, 
before it is committed, the knowledge of the evil which it involves, 
and an inspiration which excites us to avoid it." — {App., Note 
206.) 

" An action can not be imputed as blamable when it is invol- 
untary. In order that an action should be voluntary, it must 
proceed from a man who sees, who knows, who understands the 
good and the evil which is in it." — {App., Note 207.) 



CHAP XVIII.] SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. 221 

Pascal next cites the Jesuits' doctrine of Probabil- 
ity, which they applied with singular adroitness to 
the indulgence of all sorts of immorality. 

" An opinion is called probable when it is founded on reasons 
of some consideration. From whence it sometimes results that a 
single doctor of much gravity may render an opinion probable ; 
for a man particularly given to study would not adopt an opin- 
ion unless he were influenced by a good and sufficient reason. . . 
And the restriction which certain authors maintain does not please 
me, viz., that the authority of such a doctor is sufficient in matters 
of human, but not in those of the divine law. For it is of great 
weight in both." — (App., Note 208.) 

Our author, who presents his argument for the 
most part in the form of a dialogue between himself 
and a Jesuit, states here an objection that the doctors 
may differ in their opinions of probability ; to which 
his instructor replies : 

« That is only so much the better. On the contrary, they 
hardly ever agree. There are few questions where you will 
not find that one says Yes, and the other says No. And in all 
such cases both the contrary opinions are probable." — {App., 
Note 209.) 

From these premises the Jesuit draws the follow- 
ing conclusion, for which he cites the authority of 
several standard writers : 

" A doctor, being consulted, may give a counsel not only prob- 
able according to his opinion, but contrary to his opinion, if it be 
esteemed probable by others, whenever the advice thus contrary to 
his own appears to be more favorable and more agreeable to the 
person who consults him. But I further affirm that he will not go 
beyond reason if he gives to those who consult him an advice held 
probable by some learned man, even when he is persuaded that it 
is absolutely false." — (App., Note 210.) 

The practical results of this accommodating doc- 
trine are applied directly to the Confessional in these 
words : 

» When the penitent, says Father Bauni, among others, fol- 
lows a probable opinion, the Confessor ought to absolve him, al- 
though his own opinion may be contrary to that of the penitent. . . . 



222 SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. [cHAP. XVIII. 

To refuse absolution to a penitent who acts according to a proba- 
ble opinion is a sin which in its nature is mortal." — (App. y Note 
211.) 

To avoid the opposition between the ancient and 
the modern doctrines, the Jesuit next argues that in 
questions of morals the moderns are to be followed, 
because they alone could understand what was suited 
to their own times. This rule is laid down in the 
following passage, among many others: 

" In questions concerning morals the new casuists are prefer- 
able to the old Fathers, although these were nearer to the Apos- 
tles."— (App., Note 212.) 

And in order to avoid conflicting with the canons 
and bulls of the popes which sometimes were cited 
against them, the Jesuits adopted a mode of argu- 
ment which was remarkable not only for its ingenious 
evasiveness, but yet more for its cool audacity. Wit- 
ness the specimen which follows : 

" For example, Pope Gregory XIV. has declared that assas- 
sins are unworthy to enjoy the asylum of the churches, and 
that they ought to be taken away from them. Nevertheless, 
our twenty-four seniors say that all those who kill by treachery 
ought not to incur the penalty of this Bull. That seems to you 
a contradiction, but it may be reconciled by interpreting the 
word assassin, as they do in these words: "Are not assassins 
unworthy to enjoy the privilege of the churches 1 Yes, by the Bull 
of Gregory XIV. But we understand by the word assassins 
those who have received money for killing any one by treachery. 
From which it follows that those who kill without receiving any 
price for it, but only in order to oblige their friends, are not called 
assassins. In like manner, it is said in the Gospel, Give alms of 
your superfluity. Nevertheless, many casuists have found a way 
to discharge the wealthiest men from the obligation to give 
alms. That likewise appears a contradiction to you ; but they 
readily enable you to perceive the agreement by interpreting 
the word superfluity in such a manner that a case of superfluity 
can hardly ever happen. And this is what the learned Vas- 
quez has done in his treatise on Alms-giving, in these words : 
TJiat which people of the world keep in order to re-establish their 



CHAP. XVIII.] SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. 223 

own condition or that of their relations, is not called superfluity. 
And this is the reason why we shall hardly find that there is ever 
any superfluity among people of the world, and not even among 
kings." 

" Diana also, having quoted these words from Vasquez, be- 
cause he usually relies upon our Fathers" (although not a 
Jesuit himself), " draws from them this good conclusion, That 
in the question, Wliether the rich are obliged to give alms of their 
superfluity, notwithstanding the affirmative is true, it will never 
happen, or almost never, that it is obligatory in practice." — (App., 
Note 213.) 

The Jesuits, however, did not insist that an opin- 
ion which was new, even when its author was a grave 
divine, might be adopted immediately. Some little 
time was necessary. Thus Pascal's instructor lays 
down the rule : 

♦'When time has ripened an opinion, then it is altogether 
probable and sure. And from this is derived what the learned 
Caramouel says in the letter where he dedicates to Diana his 
Fundamental Theology, viz., that this great Diana has rendered 
many opinions probable which were not so before ; and therefore 
there is no sin in following them now, although there would have, 
.been. formerly." — (App., Note 214.) 

In justification and defense of the loose and dan- 
gerous morality of the Jesuits, Pascal's instructor 
makes the following statement : 

" Alas ! said the Father, our principal end would have been 
to establish no other maxims than those of the Gospel in all their 
severity. And every one may see plainly by the regulation of 
our morals, that if we suffer some laxity in others, it is more by 
condescension than by design. We are compelled to it. Man- 
kind are so corrupt in our days, that as we are not able to make 
them come to us, we are obliged to go to them. Otherwise 
they would leave us altogether; they would even do worse; 
they would abandon themselves entirely. And it is in order 
to retain them that our casuists have considered the vices to 
which they are the most addicted in all conditions, with the 
view of establishing maxims so mild, and yet without wounding 
the truth, that they must be of a difficult composition if they 
are not, content with them ; for the capital design which our 



224 SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. [CHAP. XVIIfc 

Society has undertaken for the good of religion, is to disgust no 
one, so that the world may not be driven to despair. 

« Therefore we have maxims for all sorts of persons, for the 
holders of benefices, for priests, for monks, for gentlemen, for 
domestics, for the rich, for those who are engaged in commerce, 
for those who are embarrassed in their circumstances, for those 
who are in indigence, for women who are devout, for those who 
are not devout, for married persons, for libertines. In a word,, 
nothing has escaped their foresight." — (App., Note 215.) 

" Let us begin with the holders of benefices. You know 
what a traffic is carried on in our day in benefices, and that if 
we were obliged to have recourse to what St. Thomas and the 
ancients have written, there would be a great many in the 
Church guilty of simony. This is the reason why it has been 
very necessary that our Fathers should temper matters by their 
prudence, as these words of Valentia will teach you. . . . If 
any one gives a temporal good for a spiritual, that is to say, 
money for a benefice, and the money he given as the price of 
the benefice, it is a manifest simony. But if the money be given 
as the motive which leads the will of the collator to confer the 
benefice, this is not simony, even when he who confers it expects 
and, considers the money as his chief object. . . . By this means 
we prevent an infinite number of simoniacal sins. For who 
would be so wicked as to refuse, in giving money for a bene- 
fice, to carry his intention to the giving it as a motive which in- 
duces the holder to resign it, instead of giving it as the price of 
the benefice ? No one is so forsaken of God as to act in a 
manner like that." — (App., Note 216.) 

" As to the priests, we have several maxims which favor 
them sufficiently. For example. . . . Father Bauni thus re- 
solves this question: Can a priest say mass the same day on 
which he has committed a mortal sin, and one of the most criminal, 
by confessing beforehand? No, says Villalobos, by reason of 
his impurity ; but Sancius says Yes, and without any sin ; and 
I hold his opinion sure, and that it ouglit to be folloioed in prac- 
tice."— (App., Note 217.) 

Pascal objects to this, that the laws of the Church 
were expressly opposed to such a decision, and his 
Jesuit instructor admits the fact, and avoids the con- 
sequence, as follows : 

" You are right, but you do not yet know this fine maxim of 
our Fathers: That the lav:s of the. Church lose their force* uhen 



CHAP. XVIII.] SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. 225 

men no longer observe them. . . . We see the present necessities 
of the Church much better than the ancients." — ( App., Note 
■218.) 

" But enough about the priests .... let us come to the mem- 
bers of the religious orders. As their greatest difficulty lies in 
the obedience which they owe to their superiors, listen to the 
accommodation which our Fathers apply in this matter. . . . It is 
beyond dispute that the member of a religious order who has on his 
side a probable opinion, is not obliged to obey his superior, al- 
though the opinion of the superior should be the more probable ; 
for in such case it is permitted to the friar to embrace the opinion 
which he finds the most agreeable.' 1 '' — (App., Note 219.) 

"With respect to body-servants called valets. We have con- 
sidered in their favor the difficulty they experience, when they 
are persons of conscience, in serving masters who are debauch- 
ed. For if they do not perform all the work expected, they 
lose their place; and if they obey their employers, they have 
scruples. It is to console them that our twenty-four Fathers 
have marked out the services which they may render with the 
safety of their conscience. Here are some of them. They 
may carry letters and presents, open the doors and windows, 
help their master to ascend to the window, hold the ladder while 
he climbs up ; all this is allowed as indifferent. It is true, that 
for the ladder they must be threatened more than ordinary if 
they refuse, because it is an injury against the owner of the house 
to enter it by the window.'" — (App., Note 220.) 

"But our Father Bauni, again, has well instructed the valets 
to render all these services to their masters innocently, by pro- 
viding that they shall direct their intention not to the sins 
of which they are the instruments, but only to the gain which 

accrues to them thereby Let the confessors carefully observe, 

says he, that they can not absolve those valets who perform un- 
chaste commissions, if they consent to the sins of their masters ; 
but the contrary must be said if they do it for their temporal 
accommodation.'''' — (App., Note 221.) 

" The same Father Bauni has also established this great max- 
im in favor of those who are not content with their wages. Can 
valets who complain of their wages increase them of themselves, 
by taking to their own use as much of the property belonging to 
their masters as they suppose to be necessary, in order that their 
wages may be equal to their trouble ? They may do so under 
certain circumstances ; as when they are so poor that, in seeking 
for a situation, they have been obliged to accept the offer made 
K 2 



226 THE JESUIT SYSTEM. [CHAP. XVIII. 

to them, and other valets of their quality gain more elsewhere." — 
{App., Note 222.) 

Our author proceeds to exhibit this audacious sys- 
tem of Jesuitical casuistry in its application to crimes 
of a deeper dye. Thus the priestly instructor of 
Pascal explains and defends it : 

" Know, then, that this marvelous principle is our great meth- 
od of directing the intention, of which the importance is such in 
our morals, that I might almost compare it with the doctrine of 
Probability. . . . But I shall enable you to discern this grand 
method in all its luster on the subject of homicide, which it jus- 
tifies on a thousand occasions, in order that you may judge, by 
such an effect, how much it is capable of accomplishing. . . . 
We never suffer men to have the formal intention of sinning 
for the mere purpose of sinning ; and whoever hardens himself 
to such a degree that he has no other end in evil besides the 
evil itself, we renounce him at once ; that is diabolical : and this 
is a rule without exception of age, of sex, of quality. But when 
they are not in this unhappy disposition, then we endeavor to 
put in practice our method of directing the intention, which con- 
sists in proposing as the end of our actions an object permitted. 
This is not because we neglect, as far as may be in our power, 
to turn men away from forbidden things ; but when we can not 
prevent the act, we at least purify the intention ; and thus we 
correct the vice of the means by the purity of the end." — (App., 
Note 223.) 

"That you may see the alliance which our Fathers have 
made between the maxims of the Gospel and those of the 
world by this direction of the intention, listen to our Father 
Reginaldus : It is forbidden to individuals to avenge themselves ; 
for St. Paul saith, Render to no man evil for evil ; . . . besides 
all that is said in the Gospel about the forgiveness of offenses, as 
in the 6th and 18th chapters of St. Matthew. . . . From all which 
it appears that a soldier may pursue on the spot a man who has 
wounded him ; not, indeed, with the intention of returning evil for 
evil, but with that of preserving his honor." — (App., Note 224.) 

" See you not here how careful they are to forbid the inten- 
tion of returning evil for evil, because the Scripture condemns 
it ? They would never have suffered it. Remark what Lessius 
says : He who has received a slap on the cheek must not have the 
intention to avenge himself ; but he may well have the intention to 
avoid disgrace, and for that end to repel th&injury on the spot, 



CHAP. XVIir.] THE JESUIT SYSTEM. 227 

and even with the sword. We are so far from allowing that men 
should have the design of avenging themselves on their enemies, 
that our Fathers are not willing that they should even desire 
their death by an emotion of hatred. Mark our Father Esco- 
bar : If your enemy he disposed to do you injury, you ought not 
to wish his death by an emotion of hatred, hut you may well do it 
in order to avoid your own hurV — (App., Note 225.) 

" Hear, again, this passage from our Father Gaspar Hurtado, 
cited by Diana. A person holding a benefice may without any 
mortal sin desire the death of him who holds a pension on his ben- 
efice ; and a son that of his father, and may rejoice %vhen it takes 
place, provided that this desire be on account of the good which 
will accrue to himself, and not from any personal hatred." — (App., 
Note 226.) 

By these accommodating maxims, the lawfulness 
of duelling is defended in the following extract from 
Hurtado de Mendoza, quoted by Diana, as full au- 
thority in the judgment of Pascal's Jesuit instructor. 

M If a gentleman who is challenged to a duel is known not to 
he devout, and that the sins which he is constantly seen to commit 
without scruple make it easy to judge that his refusal of the chal- 
lenge proceeds not from the fear of God, but from cowardice, and 
therefore he will have it said that /?- is a hen, and not a man; he 
may, in order to preserve his honor, repair to the place appointed; 
not, indeed, with the express intention of fighting a duel, but only 
with that of defending himself, if the challenger should come to at- 
tack him unjustly. And his action will be quite indifferent in it- 
self. For what evil is there in going into afield, walking about 
in expectation of a man, and defending one's self if assaulted ? 
And thus he does not sin in any manner, since this is by no means 
Hie acceptance of a challenge, the intention being directed to other 
circumstances. For the acceptance of a challenge consists in the 
express intention of fighting, which such an individual has not. — 
(App., Note 227.) 

" Sanchez, however, allows that a challenge may not only be 
accepted, but may even be given, when the intention is well 
directed. It is very reasonable, says he, to say that a man may 
fight a duel to save his life, his honor, or a considerable amount 
of his property, when it is certain that his enemy seeks to rob him 
of them by unjust lawsuits and chicanery, and that he has no other 
means of preserving them hut this alone. And Navarre says ivell 
that, under such circumstances, it is permitted to accept and to 



228 THE JESUIT SYSTEM. [CHAP. XVIII, 

offer a challenge ; and also that a man may kill his enemy pri- 
vately. And even in the circumstances mentioned, he ought not 
to use the mode of the duel, if he can kill his man in secret, and 
thus be rid of the difficulty ; because by this means he will avoid 
at once the exposure of his own life in combat and the participa- 
tion of the sin which his enemy would commit by a dueV — {App., 
Note 228.) 

My reader, perhaps, has lifted up his eyes in aston- 
ishment long ago at this astounding system of Chris- 
tian ethics, unblushingly inculcated by the great 
lights of the Jesuits, a hundred years after the Ref- 
ormation, for the government of the Confessional. 
But I have not yet done with the work of Pascal, 
which discloses, a little further on, a yet deeper abyss 
of iniquity. 

"According to our Father Baldelle, quoted by Escobar, It is 
permitted to kill him who says, You have lied, if we can not re- 
press him otherwise. And we may kill, in like manner, for slan- 
ders, according to oxir Fathers. For Lessius, whom Father 
Hereau, among others, follows word for word, says : If you en- 
deavor to ruin my reputation by calumnies before persons of honor, 
and I can not avoid it otherwise than by killing you, may I do 
it ? Yes, according to the modem authors, and even although 
the crime which you publish is true, if at the same time it be se- 
cret, so that you could not discover it by the course of justice. And 
here is the proof of the assertion. If you icould rob me of my 
honor by giving me a slap on the face, I may hinder it by force 
of arms ; therefore the same defense is permitted when you seek 
to do me the same injury with the tongue. Moreover, we may pre- 
vent affronts ; then we may also jrrevent slander. Finally, honor 
is dearer than life. But we may kill to defend our life ; then 
we may kill to defend our honor.' , — (App., Note 229.) 

"Nevertheless, as our Fathers are very circumspect, they 
have found it to the purpose to forbid the putting this doctrine 
into use on trifling occasions ; for they say, at least, That we ought 
hardly to practice it. And this has not been without reason : 
here it is. I know it well, said I ; it is because the law of God 
forbids homicide. They do not put it on that ground, replied 
the Father ; they consider it permitted in conscience, and in re- 
gard to the truth in itself. And why, then, do they forbid it? 
Listen, saith he : It is because we should reduce the population 



CHAP. XVIII.] THE JESUIT SYSTEM. 229 

of the State to nothing, if we killed all the slanderers. Learn 
this from our Reginald us. Notwithstanding this opinion, that 
we may kill for slander, is not without probability in theory, yet 
we must follow the contrary in practice ; for we must always 
avoid injuring the State in our mode of defending ourselves. 
And it is manifest that in killing every one offending after this 
sort, there would be a great number of murders. Lessius speaks 
in the same way. We must be careful that the use of this maxim 
be not hurtful to the State ; for then we must not permit it." — 
(App., Note 230.) 

Pascal proceeds to prove that the shocking license 
of these demoralizing principles was allowed not only 
to the laymen, but to the priests and the monks like- 
wise. 

" Tanner says, That it is permitted to ecclesiastics, and to the 
members of religious orders themselves, to kill for the purpose of 
defending not only their life, but also their goods, or those of 
their Society. Becanus, Reginaldus, Layman, Lessius, and the 
others all use the same words. And, even according to our 
celebrated Father L'Amy, it is permitted to priests and friars 
to hinder those who seek to blacken their character with cal- 
umnies by killing them, in order to prevent it; but it is always 
by directing the intention rightly. These are his words : 
It is permitted to an ecclesiastic or to a friar to kill a calumnia- 
tor, who threatens to publish crimes scandalous to his community 
or to himself, if there be no other way to prevent him, as when he 
is ready to spread his slanders, if he be not killed promptly. For 
in such a case, as it would be permitted to this friar to kill him 
who would take away his life, it is also permitted to kill him who 
would take away the honor either of himself or of his community, 
in like manner as in the case of men of the world.' 1 '' — (App., Note 
231.) 

My readers will consent, I am sure, to be detained 
a little longer, in order that the much-talked-of doc- 
trines of equivocation and mental reservation may be 
exhibited in the words of the Jesuits themselves. On 
these subjects the instructor of Pascal proceeds as fol- 
lows : 

" I wish now to speak of the facilities which we have intro- 
duced in order to avoid sins in the conversations and intrigues 



230 THE JESUIT SYSTEM. [cHAP. XVIII. 

of the world. One of the most embarrassing things which we 
experience there is to avoid lying, and especially when we 
wish to make men believe what is false. For this purpose our 
doctrine of equivocation serves admirably, by which we are per- 
mitted to employ ambiguous terms, causing them to be understood 
in a different sense from that in which we understand them, as 
Sanchez expresses it. . . . We have published this so much, 
that at last all the world has learned it. But do you know how 
we should manage when we can not find equivocal words ? 
No, my father. I suspected so, said he ; that is new : it is the 
doctrine of mental reservations. Sanchez states it in the same 
place : We may swear, saith he, that we have not done a thing, 
although we have done it effectively, understanding in ourselves 
that we have not done it on a certain day, or before we were born, 
or with some other similar qualification, while the words which 
we utter prevent the fact from being known. And this is very 
convenient on many occasions, and is always quite just, whenever 
it is necessary or useful to our health, our honor, or our prop- 
erty."— (App., Note 232.) 

" How, my father," objects Pascal, "and is not this a lie, and 
even a perjury? No, said the. father : Sanchez proves it in 
the same place, and our Father Filiutius also, because, says he, 
it is the intention which governs the quality of the act. And he 
gives there another method still more sure to avoid lying, viz., 
that, after saying aloud, I swear that I have not done this thing, 
we may add in a whisper, to-day ; or that, after saying aloud, 1 
swear, we may add in a whisper, that I say, and then go on 
afterward in a loud voice, that I have not done this thing. You 
see clearly that this is saying the truth. I acknowledge it, said 
I to him ; but perhaps we may find that it is saying the truth 
in a whisper, and telling a lie with a loud voice; besides which 
I should fear that many persons would not have sufficient pres- 
ence of mind to avail themselves of these methods. Our Fa- 
thers, replied he, have taught at the same place, in favor of 
those who do not know how to use these mental reservations, 
that, in order not to lie, it suffices for them to say simply that 
they have not done what they have done, provided they have the 
intention, in general, to give their declaration the sense which a 
man of ability would give to it." — (App., Note 233.) 

"Now tell me candidly, have you not often been embarrass- 
ed for want of this knowledge? Sometimes, said I to. him. 
And will you not also confess, continued he, that it would fre- 
quently be very convenient to be dispensed in conscience from 



CHAP. XYII1.] SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. 231 

keeping certain promises which, we have given ? It would be, 
I replied, the greatest convenience in the world. Listen, then, 
to Escobar, where he lays down this general rule : Promises 
are without obligation, when we have no intention to bind our- 
selves by making them. But it seldom happens that we have this 
intention, at least unless we confirm them by oath or by contract ; 
so that when we say simply I will do it, we are to be understood 
as saying that we will do it if we do not change our mind, be- 
cause we do not mean to deprive ourselves of our liberty. He 
states at the end, that all this is taken from Molina and our 
other authors ; and therefore we can have no doubt upon the 
question." — (App., Note 234.) 

My next extract will show the indulgence of the 
Jesuit system toward willful calumny. And it is 
highly probable that it will furnish the real key to 
the bold and reckless spirit of misrepresentation in 
which so many writers of that school have violated 
the truth of history, and shamelessly blackened the 
characters of the living and the dead, whenever the 
interests of their Church or of themselves required the 
service of mendacity. 

" It is only a venial sin to calumniate and accuse of false 
crimes, in order to ruin the credit of those who speak ill of us. . . 
It is certainly a probable opinion, says Caramouel, that there is 
no mortal sin in calumniating falsely, for the purpose of preserv- 
ing our honor. For it is maintained by more than twenty grave 
doctors, Gaspar Hurtado, Dicastillus, Jesuits, fyc. ; so that if this 
doctrine be not probable, there would hardly be any ivhich could 
be so called in all theology.'''' — (App., Note 235.) 

My limits oblige me to pass over many topics in 
this extraordinary system ; but I can not omit the 
following passages, which were plainly designed to 
secure the granting of absolution without regard to 
the spiritual state of the penitent, while yet the con- 
fessor should feel himself discharged from all respons- 
ibility. 

" The priest is obliged to believe the penitent on Jiis word. . . . 
It is not necessary that the Confessor should be persuaded that 



232 SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. [cHAP, XVIII. 

the resolution of the penitent will be performed, nor even that he 
should judge it to be probable ; but it suffices for him to think 
that the penitent at the time has the general intention, although 
he should fall back again in a very little while. And this is 
what is taught by all our writers. 1 '' — (App., Note 236.) 

Pascal here objects that, according to the opinion 
of Father Petau himself, true penitence is necessary 
for the reception of the sacrament. To which his 
Jesuit instructor replies as follows : 

" Father Petau speaks of the ancient Church. But that is 
now so out of season, to use the words of our Fathers, that the 
contrary, according to Father Bauni, is the only truth. Inhere 
are authors who say that we ought to refuse absolution to those 
who often fall back into the same sins, and especially when, after 
having been many times absolved, there is no appearance of 
amendment ; and others say No. But the only true opinion is, 
that we must not refuse them absolution ; and even though they 
do not profit by all the advice which we have often given them, 
though they have not kept the promises which they have made to 
change their life, though they have not labored to purify them- 
selves, it is no matter ; and whatever others may say about it, 
the true opinion, and that which we should follow, is that, even in 
all such cases, they ought to be absolved. And again : We ought 
neither to refuse nor delay absolution to those who are in habitual 
sins against the laws of God, of nature, and of the Church, al- 
though we do not see in them any hope of amendment." — (App., 
Note 237.) 

Once more : 

" Hear Father Bauni. We may absolve him who acknowl- 
edges that the hope of being absolved has induced him to sin 
with more facility than he would have done without this hope. 
And Father Caussin, defending this proposition, says, that if it 
was not true, the use of confession would be interdicted to the 
majority of mankind, and there would be no longer any remedy 
for sinners but a branch of a tree and a rope.'''' — (App., Note 238.) 

Another maxim of the Jesuits' system, which dis- 
penses with contrition, is in perfect harmony with the 
rest, and, indeed, becomes essential to their consist- 
ency. Thus Pascal's instructor states this important 
part of their moral theology : 



CHAP. XVIII.] SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. 233 

" Our Fathers Fagundez, Granados, and Escobar, in the 
practice of our Society, have decided that contrition is not nec- 
essary even at the hour of death ; because, say they, if attrition 
with the sacrament did not suffice at death, it would follow that 
attrition would not be sufficient with the sacrament." — (App., 
Note 239.) 

" Contrition is so little necessary to the sacrament" (i. e., the 
Sacrament of Penitence), "that it would, on the contrary, be 
hurtful to it, because, in effacing our sins by itself, it would leave 
nothing for the sacrament to accomplish. This is what our 
Father Valentia, that celebrated Jesuit, says. . . . Contrition is 
by no means necessary to obtain the principal effect of the sacra- 
ment, but, on the contrary, it is rather an obstacle to it." — (App., 
Note 240.) 

I shall add but one extract more, in which they 
boldly assert that the love of God is not required for 
our salvation. 

"Our Father Anthony Sirmond. ... in his admirable book on 
the Defense of Virtue. . . . finally concludes, that we are not, 
in strictness, obliged to any thing more than to observe the oth- 
er commandments, without any affection for God, and without 
giving our hearts to Him, provided that we do not hate Him. 
This is what he proves throughout his second treatise. . . . 
where he says these words : God, in commanding us to love 
Him, contents Himself with our obeying Him in His other com- 
mandments. If God had said, I will destroy you, whatever 
obedience you may render to me, unless your heart is also mine, 
would this motive, in your opinion, have been properly proportion- 
ed to the end which God sJiould and could have had in view? 
It is, therefore, said that we shall love God in doing His will, as 
if we loved Him with affection ; as if the motive of charity led us 
to obedience. If that be really the fact, it is still belter ; if not, 
we shall not fail, nevertheless, to. obey in strictness the command- 
ment of love, by having the works ; so that (behold the goodness 
of God /) it is not so much commanded that we love, as that we 
do not hate Him." — (App., Note 241.) 

" It is thus that our Fathers have discharged men from the 
painful obligation of loving God actually. And this doctrine is 
so advantageous, that our Fathers Annat, Pintereau, Le Moiue, 
and even A. Sirmond himself, have defended it vigorously when- 
ever it was attacked. You have only to observe this in their an- 
swers to the Moral Theology ; and that of Father Pintereau will 



234 SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. [CHAP. XVIII. 

enable you to judge of the value of this dispensation, by the price 
which he says that it has cost— the blood of Jesus Christ. It is 
the very perfection of this doctrine. You will there see that 
this dispensation from the difficult duty of loving God is the 
privilege which the law of the Gospel bestows above the law of 
the Jewish system." — (App., Note 242.) 

Enough has now been shown of the maxims of the 
Confessional, as they were laid down by the great 
masters of the Jesuit Society, and doubtless faithfully 
earned into practice, from the middle of the sixteenth 
to the latter part of the seventeenth century. From 
these the reader may fairly infer what their system 
must have been on the prolific subject of the sins of 
licentiousness. And the light which they shed on 
the practical administration of priestly absolution, 
during their long reign of power, may be easily esti- 
mated, when we remember that they far excelled all 
the other Orders of the Church of Rome in zeal, in 
strenuous activity, in splendid success, in learning, 
in the extent of their privileges and immunities, and 
in the just reliance placed upon their extraordinary 
resources by the popes themselves. During a full 
century, at least, they were looked upon by the pa- 
pal governments of Europe and by the Court of Rome 
as the most effective barrier against the progress of 
the Reformation. And had they not, through the 
special mercy of an overruling Providence, been in- 
duced to publish their demoralizing system, they 
might have gone on with its secret application to the 
end of the world, and no man, out of their own pale, 
would have been the wiser. 

But have we any right to charge the Jesuits with 
being, in the main, less scrupulous than their fellows ? 
Assuredly there is no evidence whatever to justify 
such an accusation. It is certain that in the severity 
of their training, in implicit obedience, and in their 



CHAP. XVIII.] SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. 235 

readiness to make any personal sacrifice for the inter- 
ests of the Papacy, they excelled all others. Their 
own morals were as pure, to all appearance, as those 
of any Order in the Roman communion. The indul- 
gences which they granted to such a fatal extent, for 
the gratification of their brethren, were not often 
needed for their own. We have seen that they jus- 
tified their scheme on the express ground of necessity 
and expediency. They used it to recommend their 
Church and themselves, with equal success, to all 
classes of society. They sought to govern the laity 
by these easy and corrupt maxims, because the Ref- 
ormation had broken the power of the popedom, and 
the old system of excommunication, followed by fire, 
and sword, and torture, was practically exploded ev- 
ery where, except in the Inquisitions of Spain, Por- 
tugal, and Goa. No man has any authority for de- 
nying that their motives were precisely what they 
stated Nor did it need any extraordinary sagacity 
to see that kings and princes, nobility and gentry, 
soldiers and citizens, laborers and servants, must be 
flattered and deluded, since they could no longer be 
compelled ; for otherwise the dominion of the pope 
would be lost, and all men would claim the Protestant 
liberty of taking their religion from the Bible, and in- 
sist on reducing the offices of priests and bishops to 
their apostolic and primitive limitations, and reform 
their creeds by the ancient standards, and turn the 
monks and nuns adrift ; and thus the magnificent 
fabric of papal supremacy and sacerdotal despotism, 
which had been erected with such laborious and per- 
severing policy during ages of darkness and supersti- 
tion, would fall to the ground, and bury them in its 
ruins. 

In all this I can perceive nothing peculiar to the 



236 SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. [CHAP. XVIII. 

position of the Jesuits. Making a reasonable allow- 
ance for occasional exceptions, it seems manifest that 
the same views and motives were just as likely to 
operate on the whole Roman hierarchy. The same 
interests belonged to every member of the priesthood. 
The same dangers threatened them all alike. And 
it is impossible to assign any reason for the corrupt 
compliances of that pre-eminent Order with the de- 
pravity of their age, which would not be as valid in 
the judgment of the rest, and as likely to govern the 
Confessional in its practical operation. 

Unfortunately for the Jesuits, however, many of 
their maxims were utterly subversive of civil govern- 
ment. The shocking allowance of false oaths, under 
the plea of mental reservation, was a mortal blow to 
the administration of justice. The atrocious permis- 
sion of homicide, to prevent the loss of reputation or 
property, was directly hostile to the safety of every 
community. These principles could not be tolerated 
by the rulers of the State with any regard to the 
public welfare. And therefore the Jesuits, who had 
made themselves responsible by their avowal, fell un- 
der universal suspicion and obloquy. The Jansenists, 
I doubt not, were honest in their efforts to expose 
them. Of the sincerity of Pascal and some of his 
coadjutors, there can be no question. But if the 
reigning sovereigns and their ministers in the various 
papal countries had not taken the alarm, and expelled 
the Jesuits, the popes and cardinals of Rome would 
have given themselves little concern about the com- 
plaints of their other enemies. This is sufficiently, 
manifest from the fact that while the Jansenists 
were promptly condemned by two papal bulls, the 
first of which was issued in A.D. 1653, and the sec- 
ond only three years afterward, on the score of certain 



CHAP. XVIII.] SYSTEM OF THE JESUITS. 237 

alleged errors in the doctrine of predestination, the 
Jesuits, although expelled by every Roman Catholic 
government in Europe, were sustained by the papal 
partiality until 1673, and then condemned with the 
greatest reluctance, and only because, as Ganganelli 
declared, " It was better to sacrifice the Jesuits than 
live in constant dispute with the kings." Nothing 
can prove more plainly that their system was not re- 
garded by the pontiffs as objectionable in itself, and 
that the rulers of the Roman hierarchy were far more 
hostile to the austere pretensions of the Jansenists 
than to the accommodating pliancy of the ingenious 
scheme which disposed of sin with so much ease by 
the doctrines of Probability and Intention. 

For my own part, therefore, I have no doubt that 
the maxims of the Jesuits were a fair exponent of the 
general administration of the Confessional throughout 
the whole Roman communion. I admit the state- 
ment of Pascal, that they did not expressly design to 
corrupt mankind, that they were always ready to rec- 
ommend the strictest morality to the few who preferred 
it, and that they only indulged the mass of sin among 
the majority under the assumed expediency or neces- 
sity of accommodation. And such, I presume, is still, 
and always will be, the practical operation of the sys- 
tem. But it is very certain that the frankness with 
which they formerly published their maxims will 
never be exhibited again. The Christian world can 
not expect the repetition of an avowal which was fol- 
lowed by such troublesome consequences. And yet 
the reasons by which their policy was supposed to be 
justified in the seventeenth century have lost none 
of their force. Nor is it possible for human ingenu- 
ity to imagine why the Confessional should now be 
administered on better or purer principles. True, in- 



238 THE LATERAN COUNCIL. [CHAP. XIX. 

deed, the advocate of Rome may amuse the crafty 
and deceive the credulous by saying that the papal 
bull which condemned the sixty-five erroneous propo- 
sitions of the Jesuits, in A.D. 1673, is a sufficient 
guard against their restoration. A powerful guard 
assuredly ! when we have already seen how easily 
they evaded the canons and papal bulls of previous 
centuries, and with what admirable coolness they 
laid down the comprehensive rule that the laws of 

THE CHURCH LOSE THEIR FORCE WHEN MEN NO LONGER 
OBSERVE THEM ! 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND AND IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The rise and progress of the Confessional have now 
oeen traced from the days of the apostles to the lat- 
ter part of the seventeenth century. We have seen 
that the modern doctrine of the Church of Rome was 
still unknown, until the fourth Council of Lateran 
sanctioned the despotic scheme of Pope Innocent III., 
by which auricular confession and private absolution 
were required of all persons, without exception, at 
least once a year, under the penalty of virtual excom- 
munication. That this new and stringent enactment 
was the product of expediency, dictated by the determ- 
ination of the pontiff and priesthood to secure their 
absolute power over the nations in that palmy age of 
papal supremacy, is manifest from its history ; for 
at this time the domination of Rome was in danger 
from the progress of a strong opposition. The Albi- 



CHAP. XIX.] THE LATERAL COUNCIL. 239 

genses and Waldenses had become very numerous in 
the South of France, under the protection of the 
Counts of Thoulouse and Foix. The pope had actu- 
ally published a crusade against them six years before. 
Indulgences had been liberally promised to all who 
should enlist in this " holy war" of the Church, and 
vast armies, under the renowned Simon de Montfort, 
had been engaged in destroying the unhappy "here- 
tics" with fire and sword, and every conceivable meth- 
od of cruel barbarity. Yet still a host of them re- 
mained, who continued to declaim against the pope, 
the monks and nuns, the ignorance and vices of the 
clergy, the superstitions and impostures connected 
with the false worship of the Virgin and the saints, 
and all the other numerous corruptions of the papal 
system. And their opinions were gaining ground with 
such success, that the hierarchy of Rome thought it 
necessary to exert the utmost energy for their total 
extirpation. 

To this end, the pontiff convened the fourth Coun- 
cil of Lateran, and used all his influence to render it 
the most numerous and imposing body of the kind 
which had ever met together. It consisted of four 
hundred and twelve bishops, of whom seventy -one 
were primates or metropolitans ; eight hundred abbots 
and priors, besides a large number of proxies for ab- 
sentees ; the embassadors of the emperors of Germany 
and Constantinople, of the kings of Sicily, France, 
England, Hungary, Jerusalem, Cyprus, Arragon, and 
many other sovereigns ; together with the patriarchs 
of Constantinople and Jerusalem, the patriarch of the 
Maronites, and legates from the patriarchs of Antioch 
and Alexandria. This immense body of dignitaries 
assembled in the Church of St. John Lateran at Rome, 
formerly the Church of the famous Constantine. The 



240 THE LATERAN COUNCIL. [CHAP. XIX. 

Council was opened in due pomp and form, and sat 
from the 11th to the 30th of November, A.D. 1215. 
And although the main objects for which it had been 
ostensibly summoned were the recovery of the Holy 
Land from the Saracens, and the reformation of the 
Church, yet the chief design of its legislation proved 
to be the extirpation of heresy. For this purpose, 
not only was it enjoined to make the strictest inquiry 
after heretics, with severe penalties of confiscation, 
banishment, &c, but the novel expedient was adopted 
of enforced annual confession, as the most reliable 
method of preventing the progress of ecclesiastical re- 
bellion : since by this means each individual of the 
laity was compelled to pass, once in every year, 
through the hands of the priest, who could thus ef- 
fectually ascertain whether any one had tampered with 
his allegiance to popery. That this was a perfect in- 
novation, is acknowledged by Fleury himself. " C'est 
le premier canon que je scache," saith he, " qui a or- 
donne generalement la confession sacramentelle ; et il 
y avoit raison particuliere de le faire alors, a cause 
des erreurs des Albigeois et des Vaudois touchant le 
sacrament de penitence."^ " This is the first law 
that I know, which ordained a general sacramental 
confession, and there was a particular reason for en- 
acting it at that time, on account of the errors of 
the Albigenses and the Waldenses concerning the 
sacrament of penitence." 

We must doubtless make some allowance for the 
phraseology of our historian, whose Romanism has here 
led him to attempt a little mystification ; for it is 
quite evident that the errors of heresy could never 
justify the Church in changing her own system, by 
laying a new burden on her people, and attaching a 

* Histoire Ecclesiastique, tome xvi, p. 375. 



CHAP. XIX.] THE LATERAN COUNCIL. 241 

perilous increase of secret prerogative to her priests, 
against the whole doctrine and practice of antiquity. 
But he frankly admits that it was a complete novelty, 
introduced on account of the Albigenses and Walden- 
ses ; and for these, which are the important facts of 
the case, his authority is conclusive in our favor. 

Thus, then, we have the real history of this mon- 
strous innovation. The arguments now advanced to 
give it a semblance of truth, and to present it as the 
proper instrumentality for obtaining the pardon of sin 
and preparing the faithful for the reception of the Eu- 
charist, were not suggested by the Council, but were 
gotten up afterward, as we have seen, by the school- 
men, of whom " the angelic Doctor," Thomas Aquinas, 
was the most distinguished. And in order to sustain 
them in better consistency with the sacramental ob- 
ligation, now first imposed, the old forms of prayer, 
that God would absolve the penitent, were not alto- 
gether abandoned, but the new form of " I absolve 
thee" was boldly introduced, and to this was attached 
the whole force of the absolution. I have already ex- 
hibited the proofs of this unhappy change, and have 
shown that it was not accomplished without complaint 
and remonstrance. But the power of the papacy and 
the zeal of the schoolmen soon conquered this feeble 
opposition, and the murmur ers were silenced with little 
difficulty. The novel addition was in favor of priestly 
despotism. It was a common cause among the hie- 
rarchy, for a common benefit. The masses were pro- 
foundly ignorant. The papal scepter bore universal 
sway. Darkness covered the land, and gross darkness 
the people. And thus the blow was successfully struck 
against the last remaining wreck of Christian liberty, 
and the power of every priest was fastened upon the 
soul and conscience of his trembling suppliants, and 

J. 



242 THE ENGLISH REFORMERS. [cHAP. XIX, 

his secret and irresponsible judgments were henceforth 
to be received by all his flock without exception as 

THE VOICE OF GOD ! 

Such being the time, the occasion, and the motives 
for the adoption of this modern form of absolution, I 
can not but lament that our noble Reformers of En- 
gland suffered it to remain in any part of their estab- 
lished offices, notwithstanding they only allowed it to 
be used at the earnest desire of individuals whose 
minds might be depressed by the weight of some spe- 
cial sin. In all things else they determined to be 
guided by the pure doctrines of the Scriptures and the 
practice of the primitive Church. Why, it may be 
asked, did they deviate from their rule in this partic- 
ular ? To this question a two-fold answer may be 
given. 

In the first place, they may have been influenced 
by a benevolent disposition to favor the feelings and 
habits of a large proportion of the nation, in whose 
judgment the principles of the Reformation had not 
yet become fully established, and who, therefore, when- 
ever their minds became alarmed and dejected, might 
naturally long after their accustomed course, and de- 
rive a certain comfort from hearing the old and famil- 
iar words of positive personal absolution. To accom- 
modate the prejudices of these weak brethren, there- 
fore, the Reformers may have thought it best to allow 
this indulgence to the few who might specially ask 
for it. They may have believed that such a course 
was justified by the policy of the apostles, who, ac- 
cording to the opinion of some of the ancient fathers, 
permitted the continuance of the ceremonial law aft- 
er it had ceased to be absolutely binding, for the sake 
of their Israelitish brethren. And yet it seems man- 
ifest that the cases were by no means analogous ; for 



CHAr. XIX.] THE ENGLISH REFORMERS. 243 

the ceremonial law had been appointed for the Jewish 
people by express divine authority, and had never 
been formally repealed. Whereas the Confessional, 
with its new assumption of private priestly preroga- 
tive, was without a vestige of apostolic or primitive 
sanction, and was rather to be regarded as a system 
of delusion, perilous to the conscience of the pastor, 
and dangerous to the souls of his flock. But the Re- 
formers had been long accustomed to this mode of ad- 
ministering absolution. They doubtless anticipated 
the result, that, by making its use to depend entirely 
on the voluntary request of the laity, it would soon 
die away. And meanwhile, in order to facilitate the 
conversion of Romanists, and prevent their thinking 
that they would lose any real privilege in coming to 
a pure Church, they determined to tolerate it in this 
optional shape, which still continues. 

The second answer to the question, however, may 
be more satisfactory, namely, that the use of private 
confession and absolution, in certain cases, was al- 
lowed, not to accommodate the habits of Romanists, 
but in order to agree as far as possible with the sys- 
tem of the German Reformers, Luther and Melanc- 
thon ; for they had retained a far closer resemblance 
to the Roman discipline in this matter. They called 
absolution a sacrament, and required auricular con- 
fession and priestly absolution of every one, as a reg- 
ular preparative for the Eucharist ; although they 
abolished the rule which authorized the priest to act 
as an inquisitor, and severely denounced the whole 
Romish doctrine concerning works of penance or sat- 
isfaction. 

But it may, perhaps, be more acceptable to the 
reader if I state these points of distinction in their 
own words. Thus, then, we read in the Catechism 



244 THE LUTHERAN SYSTEM. [CHAP. XIX. 

composed by Melancthon for the youth of the Lu- 
theran Churches, viz. : 

" Wliat is a Sacrament? 

" It is properly a ceremony instituted in the Gospel, to which 
is added a Gospel promise. 

" How many are they? 

" Three are rightly enumerated : Baptism, Absolution, and 
the Lord's Supper." — (App., Note 243.) 

Here, therefore, we find that the German Reformers 
included absolution among the sacraments, in which 
neither Calvin nor Zuingle, nor yet our Mother 
Church of England, agreed with them. And in this 
I have already shown that our system is justified by 
the ancients, and that the modern doctrine had no ex- 
istence in Christendom before the thirteenth century. 

The celebrated Confession of Augsburg presents the 
Lutheran sentiment on the subject in the following 
terms : 

" Of Confession. 
" Confession in the Churches is not abolished with us. For 
it is not our custom that the body of the Lord should be admin- 
istered, except to those who have previously been examined 
and absolved. . . . The power of the keys is honored and com- 
memorated, how much consolation it affords to alarmed con- 
sciences, and how God requires faith, in order that we may 
believe in that absolution as in a voice sounding from heaven, 
and that this faith may attain to Christ, and receive the remis- 
sion of sins." — {App., Note 244.) 

"But our ministers teach concerning confession, that the 
enumeration of offenses is not necessary, nor are consciences 
to be burdened with the care of numbering all sins, because the 
reciting of all our transgressions is impossible, as the Psalmist 
testifies. Who understandeth his offenses ? So likewise Jere- 
miah, The heart of man is depraved and inscrutable. Because 
if no sins could be remitted unless they have been rehearsed, 
the consciences of men could never rest, since there are very 
many sins which they neither discern nor are able to remem- 
ber. The ancient writers also bear witness that this enumer- 
ation is not necessary. For in the Decretals, Chrysostom is 



CHAP. XIX.] THE LUTHERAN SYSTEM. 245 

quoted, who speaks thus : ' I do not say to thee that thou 
shouldst betray thyself in public, nor accuse thyself before oth- 
ers ; but I wish thee to obey the prophet, saying, Reveal thy 
way before God. Therefore confess thy sins to God, the true 
Judge, with prayer. Declare thy sins not with the tongue, but 
with the memory of thy conscience,' &c. And the gloss con- 
cerning penitence acknowledges that confession is of human 
law. Nevertheless, confession is retained among as, as well on 
account of the exceeding great benefit of absolution as for oth- 
er advantages to the conscience." — {App.^ Note 245.) 

In the larger form of the same Declaration of Faith, 
presented by the Protestant princes before the Diet of 
Worms, their doctrine is thus expressed, viz. : 

" Our ministers teach that private absolution is to be retained 
in the Churches, and they exalt its dignity and the power of the 
keys with true and most ample praises, inasmuch as this power 
of the keys administers the Gospel not only generically to all, 
but privately to each singly." — (App., Note 246.) 

The parts of penitence are stated by Melancthon 
in his Catechism, to be " two, namely, Contrition and 
Faith." — (App., Note 247.) And he rejects the Ro- 
man doctrine of Satisfaction altogether, as follows : 

" The custom of satisfactions is to be condemned, and the 
doctrine of satisfactions is to be rejected ; for we must, above 
all things, take care that the doctrine of free acceptance and of 
faith be not overthrown. Let this truth shine forth in the 
Churches, that the remission of guilt and eternal punishment 
is granted freely for the sake of Christ ; that Christ is the sat- 
isfaction and the sacrifice for our sins ; that no works of ours can 
be a satisfaction for our sins." — (App., Note 248.) 

And in the famous Apology for the Augsburg Con- 
fession, we have the following burst of indignant feel- 
ing, after an examination of the attempt made by the 
Romish theologians to prove their doctrine from the 
Scriptures, viz. : 

" May God confound those impious sophists, so wickedly dis- 
torting the Word of God to support their most empty dreams ! 
What good man can help being moved at such indignity ? Christ 
gaith, Repent. The npostles preach repentance. Therefore 



246 MOTIVES OF THE REFORMERS. [CHAP. XIX. 

eternal punishments are compensated by our satisfactions! 
Therefore the keys have authority to remit part of the pains of 
purgatory ! Therefore satisfactions redeem the pains of pur- 
gatory ! Who has taught these asses such logic as this?" — 
(App., Note 249.) 

These extracts may suffice to show that the Lu- 
theran Churches held fast the sacramental theory, 
and the practice of making auricular confession and 
private absolution the regular preparative for the ad- 
ministration of the Eucharist, although they repro- 
bated the other parts of the Roman system. And 
hence it has been supposed, with much reason, that 
notwithstanding our English Reformers had all the 
authority of Scripture and the primitive Church in 
their favor, proving that absolution, per se, was not a 
sacrament, and that auricular confession, being a mere 
modern innovation, ought not to be enjoined on any 
man, yet they thought it best to leave a portion of the 
former discipline discretionary ', in order to accommo- 
date their Lutheran friends ; so that any of them who 
might desire to avail himself of the priestly power of 
private absolution, either before the communion, or at 
the approach of death, should be indulged, on special 
request, with its administration. 

Now either of these motives may have been the 
true one; and both may have operated in the same 
direction, since it is obvious that there was no incom- 
patibility between them. But however this may have 
been, it is none the less manifest that there is no war- 
rant for the practice, either in the Word of God or 
in the early Fathers and Councils. And, therefore, 
while we ought to make the largest allowance for the 
peculiar difficulties of our admirable Reformers, and 
frankly acknowledge that in their circumstances the 
argument of expediency was plausible, yet it is hardly 
to be doubted that they carried the policy of acoom- 



CHAP. XIX.] THE AMERICAN CHURCH. 247 

modation farther than their general principles can 
fairly justify, and certainly farther than they would 
have approved, if they had lived at the close of the 
eighteenth instead of the first half of the sixteenth 
century. 

When, therefore, after the Revolutionary war was 
ended, our American Church, in the order of divine 
Providence, obtained the Episcopal succession from 
our venerated Mother of England, and it became nec- 
essary to revise the Liturgy and offices of the Prayer- 
Book, why should not our excellent predecessors have 
availed themselves of the opportunity to set aside this 
only relic of Romanism, and to recur at once to the 
unadulterated simplicity of the primitive and apostolic 
system ? True, it has been said that we received the 
succession on the express assurance that " no essen- 
tial departure was designed from the doctrine, disci- 
pline, and worship of the English Church." And the 
fact is unquestionable. But can any one seriously 
imagine that the private absolution which our vener- 
able Mother had thus permitted to remain was re- 
garded, either by her bishops or by ours, as an essen- 
tial matter ? Certain it is that our bishops did not 
so consider it, as their action proves. And it is 
equally certain that the English bishops agreed with 
them, because none of the ritualists of our Mother 
Church have ever ascribed to their private form any 
greater efficacy than belongs to the general and pub- 
lic absolution of the Liturgy ; and Wheatley, one of 
the most approved among them, even attributes less ; 
considering the words " I absolve thee" as conveying 
nothing beyond an absolution from Church censures, 
which may have been merited, although they had not 
been actually imposed. I grant, indeed, that the Rev. 
Mr. Maskell, in his late book upon the subject, labors 



248 THE AMERICAN CHURCH. [dlAP. XIX. 

very learnedly to prove that this peculiar prerogative 
of the priest to receive private confession and convey 
to each individual the direct remission of sin, is es- 
sential to every true Church, and, therefore, that the 
custom of using it ought to be restored universally. 
But he is obliged to acknowledge that he differs in 
this opinion from all the standard authors of English 
theology, and that the practical appliance of the pow- 
er is not necessary to any man's salvation. 

It has been argued, nevertheless, that notwithstand- 
ing our American Church has thus used her undoubt- 
ed right to cast aside this only trace of Roman inno- 
vation, yet, inasmuch as it was retained by the Church 
of England, it should still be considered as virtually 
belonging to our system ! But this, I must frankly 
say, is a most unwarrantable conclusion. For sure- 
ly, if such an assumption were allowed, it would 
prove that our revision of the Prayer-Book was no re- 
vision at all ; that our legislation in adopting it had 
no binding force ; that we stand, to all intents and 
purposes, precisely where we stood before the Revo- 
lution ; that our General Convention, our Constitu- 
tion, our Canons, our Liturgy, and our Offices are 
all without authority, whenever any of our clergy 
may think fit to suppose that they vary, in some es- 
sential matter, from the formularies of our venerable 
and venerated Mother Church of England ! Truly 
this idea seems to my mind so perfectly extravagant^ 
that I am at a loss for proper terms to express my 
sense of its disorganizing character. Perhaps, how- 
ever, it may be well to remind those who have be- 
come unsettled by it, thai it is directly opposed to 
three plain provisions in our system. For, 

1. In the first place, it is required by the seventh 
Article of our General Constitution, that no. persou 



CHAP. XIX.] THE CONFESSIONAL REPUDIATED. 249 

shall be ordained until he has subscribed the follow- 
ing declaration : 

" I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and 
New Testament to be the Word of God, and to con- 
tain all things necessary to salvation : and / do sol- 
emnly engage to conform to the doctrines and wor- 
ship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Unit- 
ed States." 

2. Secondly, in the Ordination Service for the 
Priesthood, one of the interrogatories is as follows : 

"Will you give your faithful diligence, always so 
to minister the Doctrine and Sacraments, and the 
discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath commanded, 
and as this Church hath received the same, accord- 
ing to the commandments of God ; so that you may 
teach the people committed to your cure and charge, 
with all diligence to keep and observe the same ?" 
To which the candidate replies, " I will so do, by the 
help of the Lord." 

3. And thirdly, in the consecration of bishops, the 
limitation appears again, in these words : 

"Will you maintain and set forward, as much as 
shall lie in you, quietness, love, and peace among all 
men ; and diligently exercise such discipline, as by 
the authority of God's Word, and by the order of 
this Church, is committed to you ? 

"Answer. I will so do, by the help of God." 

Here are the distinct boundaries of the official 
powers with which the candidates for the priestly and 
episcopal functions are clothed in Ordination. And 
therefore, as the right to go beyond them has never 
been conferred by the Church, it is manifest that it 
can never be lawfully exercised by her authority. 

In justice to our venerable Mother Church, how- 
ever, it ought to be added, that the form which we 

L 2 



250 THE CONFESSIONAL REPUDIATED. [cHAP. XIX. 

have laid aside is practically regarded as little more 
than a dead letter among the great mass of our En- 
glish brethren. The notion of the Rev. Mr. Maskell 
was rejected by his own diocesan, the eminent Bishop 
of Exeter, and called forth, at the time of its an- 
nouncement, a strong remonstrance from the body of 
the clergy. The good old forms of declaratory and 
precatory absolution, which were established in the 
primitive days of martyrdom, are the only forms in 
general use. And I venture to predict that the mod- 
ern Roman innovation of " I absolve thee," retained 
at first as a mere matter of accommodation, under 
peculiar circumstances which have long since passed 
away, will be expunged from the Prayer-Book of our 
Mother Church, if she should ever be enabled to un- 
dertake the work of revising her Liturgy. 

I mean not, indeed, to say that there are none 
among the mighty host of the English clergy who 
hold a different opinion. It is notorious, on the con- 
trary, that a small party of her divines, distinguished 
for their learning and ability, and yet more for their 
indefatigable zeal, have displayed, of late years, a 
strange yearning toward the doctrine and customs of 
the Roman Church, and a consequent determination 
to improve, as far as possible, the means which they 
suppose to exist for introducing the Confessional. 
To such as these the form which we have set aside 
affords, of course, a convenient instrument, and they 
would doubtless lament its loss as a grievous calam- 
ity. There are a few most estimable men within our 
own immediate pale who sympathize with this class, 
and I am far from intending to impeach the sincerity 
and good intentions which urge them to inculcate their 
peculiar sentiments. But the vast majority of the 
Church in England and the United States are inflex- 



CHAP. XX.] EXISTING ROMAN SYSTEM. 251 

ibly opposed to this perilous innovation. They regard 
the hope of improving the piety of the people by such 
means as perfectly delusive. And therefore, stand- 
ing on the firm ground of scriptural truth and apos- 
tolic example, sustained by the testimony of history, 
and supported by the established opinions and habits 
of the laity, they can not view the romantic enterprise 
of these innovators with any alarm for the Church, 
however they may lament the unhappy instability of 
their misguided brethren. 



CHAPTER XX. 

PRESENT STATE OF THE ROMAN CONFESSIONAL. 

It is my duty, before I close my humble volume, 
to present the form in which the Confessional appears, 
according to its most favorable aspect, in the language 
of the Romanists themselves. And this I shall do 
from the pages of the Ursuline Manual, which is 
probably the most skillfully prepared work of its kind 
in general use, and calculated to make the most fa- 
vorable impression on an incautious or ill-informed 
Protestant reader. I quote from the New York edi- 
tion of 1844. 

Although it sets forth and recommends, at great 
length, the advantages of contrition, as a prepara- 
tive for confession, yet the Council of Trent obliges 
its authors to allow the sufficiency of attrition, in the 
following words : 

"The second kind of sorrow for sin is called attri- 
tion, and is much inferior to contrition, both in its 



252 URSULINE MANUAL. [CHAP. XX, 

causes and in its effects. It is the regret of a slave, 
who returns to a master whose chastisement he fears, 
or of a child, who regrets having forfeited a claim to 
the possessions of his father. It is generally pro- 
duced either by a sense of the baseness of sin in itself, 
or, more commonly, by a fear of hell or the loss of 
heaven. If attrition be accompanied by a hope of 
pardon, if it exclude the will of sinning again, it is 
an impulse of the Holy Ghost, and a gift of God, 
which disposes the sinner for the happiness of perfect 
reconciliation with God in the tribunal of penance."^ 
The reader, I trust, has not forgotten the Jesuit 
doctrine which dispenses with the painful and diffi- 
cult duty of the love of God. And here he will find 
it fully justified. For while contrition is recom- 
mended, yet attrition will suffice, inasmuch as it dis- 
poses the sinner for the happiness of perfect recon- 
ciliation with God in the tribunal of penance. And 
what is this attrition? By the very definition given, 
it is nothing more than a slavish fear, or a selfish ap- 
prehension of the loss of future bliss, or of the inflic- 
tion of future punishment. It must, indeed, be at- 
tended by the hope of pardon, and it must exclude 
the ivill of sinning 1 again, But " the slave who re- 
turns to a master, whose chastisement he fears," may 
well hope for pardon, when he is told that his master 
will ask for nothing beyond the resolution to submit, 
and the will to avoid a repetition of the offense which 
exposes him to severe correction. And it is obvious 
that neither of these demands a particle of love, since 
they are only set forth in connection with fear and a 
prudent regard to personal safety. Hence we have in 
this short passage an evidently reluctant, but plain 
and clear admission, that the power of the priest in 

* Ursulirie Manual, p. 161. 



CHAP. XX.] URSULINE MANUAL, 253 

the tribunal of penance is sufficient to obtain for the 
sinner " the happiness of perfect reconciliation with 
God," independently of the love of the Lord, and 
without that true contrition which love alone inspires. 
And yet the Apostle John saith, " He that loveth 

NOT, KNOWETH NOT GoD, FOR GoD IS LOVE."^ And 

St. Paul proclaims, "If any man love not the Lord 
Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha."! 

The order to be pursued in the work of the Con- 
fessional, according to the Ursuline Manual, is as fol- 
lows : 

" On entering the Confessional, place yourself in 
spirit at the feet of Jesus Christ" (kneeling dovm at 
the side of your ghostly father, as it is stated in 
"The Garden of the Soul"), and " begin by making 
the sign of the cross, saying, l Bless me, Father, for 
I have sinned.' When the priest has said" (in Latin 
of course), " < May the Lord be in your heart and on 
your lips, that you may sincerely and candidly de- 
clare all your sins, in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen,' say the 
Confiteor as follows :"$ 

"I confess to the Almighty God, to the blessed 
Virgin Mary, to the blessed Michael the Archangel, 
to the blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles 
Peter and Paul, to all the saints in heaven, and to 
you, my father, that I have sinned exceedingly in 
thought, word, and deed ; through my fault, through 
my fault, through my most grievous fault.' At these 
words you should bow your head and penitently strike 
your breast ; then say how long it has been since your 
last confession ; secondly, whether you were absolved 
and have communicated ; and, thirdly, whether you 
have performed your penance. Then begin your 

* 1 John, iv., 8. t 1 Cor., xvi., 22. t Ursuliue Manual, p. 186, 



254 URSULINE MANUAL. [cHAP. XX. 

confession, by accusing yourself of any sin which 
might have been forgotten in your last confession, or 
any faults committed in approaching that sacrament. 
After which, proceed to the accusation of your other 
sins, beginning with those which you have most re- 
pugnance to mention,"^ &c. 

" When you have accused yourself of all your sins, 
and submitted any doubts on your mind to the opin- 
ion of your director, conclude your confession in the 
following form : i For these and all the sins of my life 
I am most heartily sorry, humbly beg pardon of God, 
and penance and absolution of you, my father ;' then 
immediately bowing your head, finish the Confiteor 
as follows : ' Therefore I beseech the blessed Virgin 
Mary, the blessed Michael the Archangel, the blessed 
St. John the Baptist, the holy Apostles St. Peter and 
St. Paul, all the saints in heaven, and you, my father, 
to pray to God for me.' The priest then says" (in 
Latin), " ( May the Almighty God be merciful to you, 
forgive you your sins, and bring you to everlasting 
life. May the Almighty and merciful Lord grant 
you pardon, absolution, and full remission of all your 
sins.' "f 

Here, of course, the priest puts whatever questions 
he may think proper, and nearly sixteen pages of the 
book are occupied with a list of topics for previous 
self-examination,J on all of which the confessor may 
interrogate the penitent according to his discretion. 
After this, he imposes such penance as he deems fit, 
and then the absolution is to be given in the following 
form, pronounced in Latin : 

" May our Lord Jesus Christ absolve thee from 
every bond of excommunication and interdict, as far 
as I have power and thou hast need. I therefore do 

* Ursuline Manual, p. 186-7. t Ibid., p. 187. t Ibid., p. 143-159, 



CHAP. XX.] URSULINE MANUAL. 255 

absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
Amen. May the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
the merits of the blessed Virgin Mary and of all the 
saints ; may whatever good thou shalt do, or what- 
ever evil thou shalt suffer, be to thee unto the remis- 
sion of thy sins, the increase of grace, and the rec- 
ompense of life everlasting. Amen."^ 

" When you leave the Confessional, do not disturb 
your mind by examining whether you have confessed 
well, or have forgotten any of your sins, but rest as- 
sured that if you made your confession with sincer- 
ity and the other requisite dispositions, you are, ac- 
cording to the express decision of the Council of Trent, 
fully absolved from every sin which you may have 
omitted through forgetfulness, even though it were 
mortalP\ 

The precise period at which these forms were fixed 
in their present shape it is perhaps impossible to as- 
certain. But the reader has had positive proof, from 
the forms of confession used in the ninth and tenth 
centuries, that there was nothing like them . known 
at that time ; and the probability is that the last ar- 
rangement was settled somewhere between the Coun- 
cil of Lateran and the Council of Trent, or from the 
middle of the thirteenth to the commencement of the 
sixteenth centuries. But they exhibit a curious and 
interesting specimen of the mode in which the Church 
of Rome has acted in every part of her system, by 
continuing the old and primitive truth with the ut- 
most tenacity, while she effectually opposed it by 
some modern innovation. A brief analysis of the 
formularies just cited will explain my meaning. 

First, then, the reader will remember that in the 

* Ursuline Manual, p. 188. t Ibid., p. 188. 



256 ANALYSIS OF THE SYSTEM. [CHAP. XX 

primitive Church the penitent was obliged to make 
his confession not only to God and to the priests, but 
also to the saints, that is, to his faithful brethren ; 
all who were communicants being then called saints, 
or holy perspns, as we read in the epistles of St. Paul, 
and in the writings of the early fathers. Now the 
modern Romanists have carefully preserved this prin- 
ciple, only with one important difference, viz., that 
as they have long given the title of saints exclusively 
to those departed worthies whom they suppose to be 
in glory, therefore they have substituted, for the living 
communicants of the primitive ages, the Virgin Mary, 
St. John the Baptist, St. Peter, and St. Paul, and all 
the other saints of the Calendar, and these the mod- 
ern penitent now asks to pray for him, just as the 
ancient penitent besought his brethren to grant him 
the benefit of their intercessions. 

Secondly, we have seen that the penitent in the 
primitive Church was always separated from the com- 
munion, and therefore absolution in his case signified 
the loosing him from the censures of the Church, in 
order to restore him to the society and fellowship of 
the faithful. And here, also, the modern confessor 
retains the words of the ancient form, saying, " May 
our Lord Jesus Christ absolve thee from every bond 
of excommunication and interdict, as far as I have 
power and thou hast need," although there is neither 
excommunication nor interdict to justify it. 

Thirdly, we have seen that the old forms were all 
in the language of prayer that God would absolve the 
sinner. And the modern Church of Rome still keeps 
up the same rule, in no less than three places ; while 
she brings in, at the close, her innovation of " I ab- 
solve thee" in which the Council of Trent is careful 
to place the whole force of sacramental absolution. 



CHAP. XX.] ANALYSIS OF THE SYSTEM. 257 

Fourthly, the primitive Church, in the prayer for 
the remission of sins, relied solely on " the passion of 
our Lord Jesus Christ," looking to His blessed atoning 
sacrifice as the only ground of her hope and consola- 
tion. And the modern Church of Rome retains this 
likewise, while she unites with it, in the same breath, 
her pestilent inventions, by saying, " May the passion 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the blessed 
Virgin and of all the saints ; may whatever good thou 
shalt do, or whatever evil thou shalt suffer, be to thee 
unto the remission of thy sins, the increase of grace, 
and the recompense of life everlasting." 

The Romanist can not see that in the first of these 
abuses he is obliged to commit an act of mental idol- 
atry, by invoking the departed saints as if they were 
present ; when he ought to know that it is impossible 
they should be able to hear the supplications addressed 
to them all over the world, unless they possess the di- 
vine attribute of ubiquity. But no created being can 
possess the attributes of the Creator. And hence the 
homage which requires us to invest the saints with the 
incommunicable Omnipresence of the Deity, involves 
the gravest offense against the majesty of that God 
who has said, " I will not give my glory to another." 

The second of these abuses can not be called a sin 
so much as an irreverent absurdity. For what else 
is it to ask the Lord that He will " absolve the sin- 
ner from every bond of excommunication and inter- 
dict," when no such sentence has been pronounced 
or even intended against him ? 

The third involves an equally gross and yet more 
offensive incongruity. For the priest first prays that 
the Lord would absolve the sinner, and then pro- 
nounces " I absolve thee," while the Catechism of 
Trent expressly declares that the prayers which ac- 



258 ANALYSIS OF THE SYSTEM. [CHAP. XX. 

company the form « are not deemed necessary" but 
that the power with which the priest is invested is 
that which "really absolves from sin."* It is not 
thus that the primitive Christians appealed to the 
divine majesty; nor is it thus that we act, as when, 
in baptism, we first pray that God would baptize 
the candidate with the Holy Spirit, and then pro- 
ceed to apply the outward element of water, saying, 
"I baptize thee." For here we do not ask the Al- 
mighty to perform the ministerial act which He has 
committed to His servants, but we beseech Him to 
do the spiritual work which we can not do, and yet 
without which all our ministry amounts to nothing. 
With the Roman priest, however, this reasoning has 
no force, since he can see no inconsistency in beseech- 
ing the Lord to do the very same thing which he is 
about to do himself, and then gravely telling us that 
the prayer is an unnecessary form, while it is his 
power which confers the real blessing of absolution. 
And the fourth abuse is of a similar character ; for 
here the atoning sacrifice of Christ is bound up in the 
same sentence with the merits of the Virgin and the 
saints, and even with the good works and sufferings 
of the sinner himself, as the procuring cause of the 
remission of his sins, the increase of grace, and the 
reward of life everlasting ! How strange the blind- 
ness which can not see the impiety of such a con- 
junction ! How strange ! that the Lord, who trod the 
wine-press of His Father's wrath alone ; who is alone 
the way, the truth, and the life ; whose blood alone 
cleanseth from all sin ; who alone has the keys of 
death and hell ; who alone is our great High-priest, 
holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; 
who alone is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, the 

* Ursuline Manual, p. 242. 



CHAP. XX.] CONTRADICTIONS OF ROMANISM. 259 

brightness of the Father's glory, and the express im- 
age of His Person ; who alone has power on earth to 
forgive sins — that He should have His divine pre- 
rogative thus shared, as if in partnership, with the 
Virgin and the saints, and even with the paltry works 
and ordinary trials of the sinner ; while those who 
should abhor, applaud the profanation ! 

But such is Romanism. All the original truths 
of divine revelation, the Scriptures, the creeds, and 
the primitive forms of the purest ages, are displayed 
on the one side by that treacherous Church, while 
on the other she presents an awful mass of innova- 
tions, borrowed from every source of superstition, will- 
worship, and false expediency, and to these she binds 
her subjects, and on these she erects her papal throne, 
and requires all men to bow down before her assumed 
infallibility. In the plenitude of her usurped domin- 
ion, she erects a new tribunal for the remission of 
sins, and creates new objects of worship, and estab- 
lishes new articles of faith, and makes new sacra- 
ments, and proclaims a new kind of empire in the 
unseen world, and affects a new government over the 
souls of the departed, and places new saints in heav- 
en, and invents new curses for all who presume to 
dispute her title to be the sovereign mistress of the 
world. And thus she stands, a mystery of contradic- 
tions. A true Church, by reason of the apostolic 
system which she still retains, and yet a false Church, 
by reason of her fraudulent assumptions. The spouse 
of Christ through her original covenant of faith, and 
yet a foul adulteress through her numerous acts of 
infidelity against her Lord and Master. A patroness 
of sanctity, and yet indulgent to licentiousness. An 
adorer of benevolence, and yet a tyrant persecutor. 
A worshiper of charity, and yet a cruel dispenser of 



260 THE OBJECT OF THE WORK. [CHAP. XXI. 

dungeons, and racks, and flames. Full of attraction 
to the artist, the musician, the architect, the sculp- 
tor, the poet, the men and women of romantic tastes 
and sentiment ; and yet far more full of repulsion to 
the enlightened followers &f the Word of God, who 
know how to reverence that solemn warning of the 
Almighty Redeemer : " In vain they do worship me, 

TEACHING FOR DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN." 



CHAPTER XXI. 

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 

The task which I proposed at the commencement 
is done, and I am conscious that it is done imper- 
fectly. But I trust that my pledge has been re- 
deemed, and that the reader has been enabled to form, 
so far as the nature of the subject allowed, a clear 
historical view of the rise, progress, consummation, 
and character of the Confessional. 

My object has been to treat the topic with a view 
to its avowed and authoritative principles, and by no 
means with respect to its scandalous details. For 
this reason, I have taken no notice even of the Bull 
of Paul IV., contra solicit antes ; nor of the disclo- 
sures of Llorente in his history of the Inquisition ; nor 
of the alarming and atrocious offenses published by 
the various priests who have from time to time aban- 
doned the Roman communion. Doubtless a differ- 
ent course in this respect might have made my work 
far more interesting to many readers, but it would 
not have shed any light on the main question which 



CHAP. XXI.] THE OBJECT OF THE WORK. 261 

I proposed, nor should I have felt satisfied in merely- 
repeating what is just as accessible to every other 
person as it is to me. In a word, I wished to con- 
sider the growth and character of the confessional as 
a skillfully -concocted system of priestly power, in- 
volving serious and dangerous errors of doctrine and 
of discipline, but not as a convenient instrument for 
individual transgression. Therefore I have generally 
confined myself to those documents which were of the 
highest and most responsible kind, the fathers, the 
councils, the Roman theologians and historians, and 
have endeavored to put upon them all the same fair 
and reasonable construction. 

For it is far from my desire to depreciate the 
priesthood or the members of the Church of Rome in 
Protestant countries, either as men or citizens, when 
compared with the average standard around them. 
Conscientiously and irreconcilably opposed as I am to 
their religious system, and believing that its proper 
tendency, on the broad scale of general experience, is 
decidedly unfavorable to morality, I am yet none the 
less persuaded that, wherever it is found transplanted 
to a Protestant soil, the product of the combined in- 
fluences under which it works is beneficially affected 
and happily improved. Nor have I any doubt that 
there always have been, and now are, many thou- 
sands in that corrupt communion throughout the 
world, whose hearts have turned away with dislike 
or with indifference from the errors and superstitions 
of their Church ; who have cherished, through the 
grace of God, only those doctrines which are true, 
and whose names might justly claim a lofty rank 
among the brightest of their race for intelligence and 
virtue. 

But, dismissing this topic, I would conclude by pre- 



262 THE POWER OF THE KEYS [CHAP. XXI, 

senting to my own immediate brethren in the faith a 
few remarks, which I trust will not be deemed un- 
worthy of their attention. 

Our venerable Mother Church of England, in the 
Preface to her Commination Service, has recorded a 
desire for the restoration of the ancient discipline ; 
and, in the Reformatio Legum, prepared by Cran- 
mer and others as a code of ecclesiastical law, under 
Edward VI., there was an interesting system laid 
down for the excommunication and restoration of of- 
fenders, which would probably have been formally es- 
tablished by Parliament, if the death of the youthful 
monarch, followed by the accession of Queen Mary, 
had not prevented all further movements in that di- 
rection. 

But it may be doubted whether any measure of 
the kind could be attempted in our day with a pros- 
pect of success ; and it is by no means clear that the 
Church would gain any thing by the change, even if 
it were practicable. In order, however, that we may 
have a distinct view of the nature of the subject, let 
us briefly consider the true character of the apostolic 
system. 

Our divine Redeemer expressly saith, "My king- 
dom is not of this world." Being a spiritual society, 
therefore, the Church can only claim obedience through 
the conscience of her members, and can have no prop- 
er power to impose any system of physical punish- 
ment or bodily mortification upon those whom she 
separates from her communion. We read of no such 
penal inflictions among the acts or precepts of the 
apostles ; nor did the power of the keys which was 
delivered to them, and through them to their success- 
ors, involve the imposition of any penitential disci- 
pline. This will be manifest when we consider that 



CHAP. XXI.] ACCORDING TO THE APOSTLES. 263 

the exercise of this power was limited to the follow- 
ing particulars : 

First, they opened the Gospel system to sinners by 
the key of knowledge, proclaiming repentance toward 
God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Next, when their hearers were converted and be- 
lieved, they admitted them to the covenant of adop- 
tion and the privileges of the Church by the key of 
baptism ; to which sacrament, when rightly received 
and administered, was attached the remission of sins. 

Thirdly, they prepared them for the communion by 
the key of confirmation — the " laying on of hands," 
which some have called the priesthood of the laity. 

Fourthly, they opened to them, as it were, the in- 
ner chamber of sacramental sanctity by the key of 
the Eucharistic Feast. 

Fifthly, if any member of the Church proved him- 
self unworthy, by gross and manifest transgression 
against the laws of the spiritual kingdom, the apos- 
tles excluded him from the communion and society 
of his brethren by the key of discipline. And of this 
we have two sorts of examples : the one mentioned 
in the first Epistle to the Corinthians (ch. v.), for 
the sin of incest ; the other, as in the first Epistle to 
Timothy (ch. i.), where St. Paul saith that he had de- 
livered the heretics Hymeneus and Alexander "unto 
Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme." For 
as all men are by nature the subjects of Satan, who 
is the god of this world ; and as, of course, when they 
became the subjects of Christ in baptism, they were 
obliged to renounce the devil and all his works, there- 
fore it followed of necessity, that when they were al- 
together driven from the Church, and its doors were 
closed against them, they were considered as being- 
replaced under the yoke of their former master, whom 



264 APOSTOLIC MINISTRY [CHAP. XXI. 

their pertinacious rebellion against the truth had suf- 
ficiently proved that they were still resolved to follow. 

Lastly, whenever the offender could show, by a 
long course of repentance and reformation, that he 
was sincerely contrite and spiritually changed, and 
the Church was satisfied that he ought to be restored 
the keys were used again for his readmission. 

Now it was in these several modes, and in no oth 
er, that the apostles applied the keys of the Church 
the kingdom of heaven ; and their power was minis 
terial rather than judicial, because it was only exer 
cised in obedience to the commands of Christ. True 
it may be said that their decision on all these sub 
jects required an exercise of judgment, and so indeed 
it did ; just as the servant who invites men to his 
master's house on the occasion of an earthly feast 
and tells them the rules of the entertainment, and ad 
mits those who accept the call, and regulates their 
movements according to the prescribed directions, and 
puts out of doors any that prove to be unruly, must 
exercise some judgment in order that he may perform 
his duties in such a manner as his employer may ap- 
prove. Nevertheless, we style this sort of judgment 
ministerial, and not judicial, because it is directed 
simply to the doing that which is specifically required 
by a superior. And therefore the officers of the Church 
are called ministers or servants, their power being 
strictly limited to what their Lord commands, and 
its exercise being immediately dependent on the Word 
and the Spirit of Him from whom their commission 
comes, and to whom they are directly accountable. 
Thus we have seen how the old fathers call even their 
imposing of penitential discipline a ministry ; and 
thus, also, the dignity and solemnity of the office are 
best secured, when it is considered that it is not so 



CHAP. XXI.] CONTINUED IN THE CHURCH. 265 

much the ministers of Christ who act, as Christ Him- 
self who acts through their agency. 

Now all this applies directly to the ministry of our 
own day, to whom it has descended from the apostles 
in an unbroken succession. We also preach, bap- 
tize, confirm, administer the eucharist, suspend, ex- 
communicate, and restore the penitent, just as the 
apostolic Church exercised its powers in the fresh pu- 
rity of its spiritual organization. I say not that we 
discharge these sacred functions with the same zeal, 
faith, energy, or devotion. God forbid that I should 
claim an equality in these respects for our degenerate 
age ! But I say that the system, in all its main and 
important features, is precisely the same ; and it is 
the system only which is in question. 

What, therefore, should we gain, supposing it were 
in our power, by establishing the customary rule of 
public penitence, even as it existed in the time of 
Tertullian ? For then a whole century had elapsed 
since the death of the last of the apostles, and many 
new arrangements may have sprung up during three 
generations, while the substance of the faith remained 
unchanged. Or what should we accomplish by re-en- 
acting the penitential canons of the primitive Church ? 
Assuredly these were not apostolic, since there is not 
the slightest hint in Scripture of a fixed code pre- 
scribing measured periods of time for certain offenses, 
and refusing to receive some transgressors, even at the 
hour of death, like that enacted by the Council of El- 
vira. Before the holding of that Council in A.D. 313, 
it seems to have been discretionary with each bishop 
to determine when a penitent should be allowed, if at 
all, to return to the Communion. From the very na- 
ture of the case, it is obvious that the true inquiry 
on such occasions should always have been, not how 

M 



266 PEIMITIVE CUSTOMS [cHAP. XXI. 

long the sinner had been separated from his breth- 
ren, but whether he was truly penitent and thorough- 
ly reformed^ so that the Church could place confi- 
dence in his sincerity and perseverance for the time 
to come. And it is evident that this was not a mat- 
ter to be determined by the mere lapse of months or 
years, but rather by the knowledge of the man, and 
by a strict observation of his conduct and his char- 
acter. 

As to the particular mode by which the contrition 
of the penitent was outwardly manifested in the prim- 
itive Church, it can hardly be doubted that it was 
derived originally from the customs of the Jews, and 
modified by the habits and sympathies of the age and 
nation. In our day and country, however, it would 
be manifestly preposterous to ask that men should 
fall down at the feet of their brethren, weep and groan, 
embrace the knees of the clergy, wear sackcloth, live 
on bread and water, and put ashes on their heads, in 
order to prove the reality and strength of their sor- 
row for transgression. It is not by such discipline 
as this that we could be persuaded to show our sor- 
row for any thing. Even our women are expected 
to control the outward expression of their keenest an- 
guish within the limits of formal propriety, and a 
display like that which the ancient fathers describe 
would be far more likely to excite disgust than to 
move compassion. Neither do we Und that any such 
external exhibitions were commanded by our Lord or 
his apostles. So far from it, indeed, that the Saviour 
more than once rebukes the Pharisees for their osten- 
tation, and tells His disciples, when they fasted, not to 
do it so as to be seen of men. What He requires is 
the change of the heart, the inward sorrow of the con- 
trite spirit springing from a loving faith in Him, the 



CHAP. XXI.] NEEDLESS AND UNSUITABLE. 267 

hatred of sin as being opposed to His holy command- 
ments, the earnest determination, through an hum- 
ble reliance on His strength, to forsake it utterly, 
manifested by the correspondent course of life and 
conversation which can alone prove our repentance to 
be sincere. And these things are all demanded under 
our present system. If the Church, in addition, were 
to attempt a return to the primitive practice, through 
a blind and unreflecting reverence for the habits of 
that early age, it would be simply ridiculous ; and, in- 
stead of drawing the world to Christ, it would only 
expose His Gospel to derision. 

But if it would be absurd to attempt a restoration 
of those rules and modes which, although they were 
not apostolic, were yet the nearest to the apostolic age, 
how much more absurd would it be to undertake the 
introduction of the Confessional, which, as I have 
shown from the most unquestionable authority, grew 
up by slow degrees in times of ignorance and bar- 
barism, and was not consummated, in connection with 
sacramental absolution, until the thirteenth century ! 
In vain should we endeavor to defend such a meas- 
ure by the authority of our venerable Mother Church, 
because she only permitted it under peculiar circum- 
stances, when earnestly desired by the laity them- 
selves, and never recommended, much less urged it, 
as a general means of increasing the piety of her peo- 
ple. And therefore, modify it as we may, and sus- 
tain it as we might, it is impossible that it could 
ever be regarded by the Church at large in any other 
aspect than that of sympathy with Romanism. For 
myself, indeed, I cheerfully disclaim the opinion that 
such was the true motive for the Rev. Mr. Maskell's 
theory. I doubt not that he was sincere in his desire 
to improve the devotional spirit of our degenerate day, 



268 NO CHANGE REGIUIRED. [CHAP. XXI. 

and that he fully believed his system to be quite con- 
sistent with the avowed principles and best interests 
of his and our communion. But I find it very hard 
to understand how he and his admirers could expect 
that such a proposition should have been received 
without a lively feeling of alarm and consternation. 
And I think it by no means unlikely that, if they 
were encouraged to proceed in this first measure of 
reform, they would be strongly tempted to go on un- 
til they had brought the " tribunal of penance" up to 
the full mark of Roman expediency. 

This first step, however, can never be taken with 
the consent of the Church ; for it is not only incon- 
sistent with all our habits and principles, but it is 
totally destitute of all scriptural or primitive author- 
ity. The earliest suggestion that looks like it is in 
a passage of Origen, about the middle of the third 
century, but that, when properly examined, speaks 
only of a voluntary private confession to a physician 
(not specifying the priest at all), solely with a view 
to friendly counsel and advice, and without the slight- 
est hint of private absolution.* Nor have I found 
any thing in the pages of the fathers urging the laity 
to come in secret to their pastors, and confess their 
sins, for the purpose of being absolved. The truth 
is, that the notion of any such practice existing in 
the primitive ages, is a mere figment of the Church 
of Rome, to support their modern system of sacerdotal 
domination. 

I frankly own, therefore, that I can not imagine 
how such an innovation, even if it were possible to 

* The passage is quoted from Ruffinus by Bingham, book viii., chap, 
iii., § 8, who says that it advised a voluntary confession sometimes to 
the priest. But the term in the original is medicus, which may have 
signified as well any experienced Christian. 



CHAP. XXI.] NO CHANGE REaUIRED. 269 

establish it, could ever be expected to improve the 
piety either of our clergy or of our people. As it is, 
we have all the means of grace, and all the holy priv- 
ileges appointed by our Lord, and administered by His 
inspired apostles. As it is, the members of our flocks 
are constantly led to confess their sins to Him who is 
the Searcher of hearts, and before whose awful tri- 
bunal they must stand in judgment. As it is, they 
have the grace of pardon connected with the faithful 
reception of the sacraments and the regular absolu- 
tion of prayer, the only form employed by the Church 
until the thirteenth century. As it is, they are 
freely invited to come to their pastors and « open 
their grief," whenever they find that they " can not 
quiet their own consciences, and need further com- 
fort or counsel." And it is impossible to add any 
real improvement to these privileges by borrowing the 
form of words introduced through the despotic influ- 
ence of the fourth Lateran Council. We have been 
taught by all the standard writers of our venerated 
Mother Church to regard that form with little rever- 
ence. Her clergy have never considered it as an 
active element of ministerial duty. Her laity scarce- 
ly know of its existence ; and her divines speak of it, 
not in the language of praise, but rather in the terms 
of reluctant apology. It was most wisely left out of 
our ecclesiastical system, and never can be grafted 
upon it hereafter. And its advocates, however es- 
timable for their past zeal or their present sincerity, 
will be convinced, I trust, upon reflection, that their 
position is untenable ; and resolve, in the exercise of 
true Christian magnanimity, to abandon a vain ef- 
fort, which can not be continued with the slightest 
hope of advantage to the Church or credit to them- 
selves. 



270 THE LACK OF PIETY [CHAP. XXI. 

I am far, however, from denying the justice of the 
complaint — which, indeed, we are all ready to utter 
— that the age is relaxed, that there is but little dis- 
cipline, and that the amount of active piety in our 
communion is by no means what it should be. Alas ! 
when was there not abundant ground for the same 
lamentation? Even in the apostles' days, did not St. 
Paul deplore the contentions and strifes of the Co- 
rinthians, the backsliding of the Galatians, the en- 
mity of false brethren ? Did he not record the 
mournful reproach, " All men seek their own, not the 
things of Jesus Christ ?" Did not St. John declare 
that anti-Christ was already come ? And was there 
not an awful warning delivered by the Spirit to the 
Seven Churches of Asia Minor ? And in the ages 
which we are accustomed to venerate as primitive, 
may not Cyprian, Eusebius, Athanasius, Jerome, Au- 
gustin, Chrysostom, Basil, Gregory, Salvian, and 
others, be quoted, in countless passages of eloquent 
sorrow, on the same melancholy theme ? And is it 
now, in the " last days, when perilous times should 
come, when men should be lovers of their own selves, 
proud, disobedient, unthankful, unholy" — is it now, 
after the Saviour Himself has compared the time be- 
fore His second advent to the state of the world before 
the flood, and uttered the dreadful question which looks 
so like a prophecy, "When the Son of man cometh, 
shall He find faith upon the earth ?" — is it now that 
we should wonder at the low state of Christian piety, 
and think that the defect which is personal in our- 
selves and in our flocks can be remedied by innova- 
ting upon the apostolic system ? 

No mistake could be more fatal than to imagine 
that the apathy and worldliness of the age may be 
removed by urging men to confess their sins to us, 



CHAP. XXI.] NOT THE FAULT OF THE SYSTEM. 271 

and giving them our private absolution. The remedy 
would prove worse than the disease. Neither have 
we any right to arrogate the prerogative of improv- 
ing the original plan of discipline. We are but the 
servants of Christ, commissioned to proclaim His word, 
to administer His sacraments, to maintain His sys- 
tem, to declare that " He absolveth all those who 
truly repent and unfeignedly believe His holy Gos- 
pel," and fervently to " beseech Him to grant us true 
repentance and His Holy Spirit." If we do this 
earnestly, and faithfully, and constantly, and humbly, 
we are not responsible for the results. The treas- 
ure is His ; we are but the earthen vessels. The 
power is His ; we are but the poor, weak instru- 
ments. The times and the seasons are His ; and 
though we may often seem to be surrounded by dark- 
ness, yet we must patiently abide at our allotted post, 
and watch and pray for the promised day of His glori- 
ous manifestation. At the worst, we may take com- 
fort in the reflection of the poet,^ 

" They also serve who only stand and wait.' 11 

In conclusion, then, let me say, that no discour- 
agement, no dejection, no difficulty should induce us 
to tamper with the system of the Church. That is 
of Divine appointment, and must be kept sacred from 
the hand of innovation. True, the spirit of innova- 
tion is the spirit of the age ; and we may be well 
content to let it have its full range in the arts, the 
sciences, the commerce, the governments, and what- 
ever else belongs to the uses, the tastes, or the ambi- 
tion of mortality. But we may not suffer it to touch 
the Ark of our Redemption. Innovation has been the 
plague of the Church of Rome. Innovation has been 

* Milton. 



272 CONCLUSION. [chap. XXL 

the fruitful parent of heresy and schism. Let us be 
devoutly thankful to that Almighty Saviour whose 
gracious Providence has restored to us, whole and un- 
defiled, our apostolic heritage, And let us hold it as 
a solemn truth, whatever may be our personal defi- 
ciencies, that there is not at this day, in the wide 
world, a Church which so fully deserves the fervent 
affection of her priests, and the zealous confidence of 
her people. 



APPENDIX 



Note 1. 

Si cui cum alio inimicitige intercedunt, alter alterum accedit, et is 
qui alium injuria aliqua affecit, veniam injuriae illatse ab offensa parte 
debet petere. Injuria afFectus sponte condonare debet : sic enim Deus 
peccata sua illo quoque cito condonat. Si prima vice ignoscere noluerit, 
qui veniam petit tres alios secum assumat, eumque bis et ter deprece- 
tur ; si nihil promoveat, non ex debito, sed ex abundanti decern secum 
assumat, eumque iterum deprecetur. Si injuria affectus turn condonet, 
bene se res habet : si secus, tamen suo functus officio, liber est et im- 
munis, nihil que veniae, quam a Deo sperat, hoc nocebit : alter autem, 
qui remittere noluit, vocatur crudelis, neque a Deo suorum peccato- 
rum remissionem petet. Dicitur enim, die expiationum remitti pec- 
cata, quibus homo Deum immediate offendit, juxta id quod dicitur : 
Levit., xvi., 30 : In hac die expiabit vos ut emundet vos : ab omnibus 
peccatis vestris coram Deo mundabimini, h. e. Quod peccastis coram Deo, 
in hoc die expiatur, et ab eo mundabimini : Quae vero intercedunt offensae 
inter hominem et proximum ejus, nequaquam donee eum placarit et 
cum eo reconciliatus sit, etiamsi non nisi verbis emu irritarit, &c— 
Buxtorf. Synagoga Judaica, c. xxv., p. 517-8. 

Hoc die quoque peccata sua Deo confitentur, quam viddui vocant. 
Quia enim Dies Expiationum est, dies remissionis et expiationis pec- 
catorum, ideo aiunt necesse esse, ut eo quisque peccatorum suorum 
confessionem edat, sicut in V. T. de omnibus oblationibus, quae pro 
peccatorum expiatione fiebant, legitur, Et confitebuntur peccata sua 
quce fecerunt y &c. Sicut etiam Sacerdos summus in die expiationum, 
pro se, et pro toto Israele confessus, sicut dicitur ; Expiationem faciei 
pro se, et pro domo sua, et pro universo ccctu Israel ; cujus sensus est, 
quod confessus fuerit primo peccatum suum, deinde peccatum Israelis. 
—76., p. 519. 

Confessionis formula satis longa est, et habetur in libris precum 
ipsorum. Concepta est ordine alphabetico, ita ut unaquseque htera 
complectatur peccatum aliquod turn gravius, turn frequentius ; ad quaB 
deinde, qui magis sunt devoti et contriti, et judicio pollent, alia specia- 
lia addunt, quorum sibi sunt conscii, vel ad quae alias natura inclinan- 
tur et feruntur ; eorum remissionem simul a Deo petentes. — lb., p. 520. 

Hanc si quis publice et clara voce legat aut recitet, non necesse 
habet specialem peccatorum suorum enumerationem ei inserere, sed si 
privatim et submissa voce confiteatur, bene facit, qui omnia, quorum 
meminisse potest, recuset : quia magis hac ratione ad poenitentiam agen- 



274 APPENDIX. 

dam exstimulatur. Sic aiunt fecisse Mosen, quando pro Israelitis orans 
dixit : Obsecro peccavit populus iste peccatum grande : fecerunt enim 
sibi Deos aureos. 

Confessio debet fieri stando (majoris humilitatis testandse gratia), et 
corde sincero ac perfecto. Saepius, et minimum decies hoc die earn 
iterant. — lb., p. 521. 

Note 2. 
Hoc enim dico, poenitentiam quae per Dei gratiam ostensa et indicta 
nobis, in gratiam nos Domino revocat, semel cognitam atque suscep- 
tam, nunquam posthac iteratione delicti resignare oportere. — Tert., de 
Pcenitentia, § v., p. 123, B. 

Note 3. 

Lavacrum illud obsignatio est fidei, quae fides a poenitentiaB fide in- 
cipitur et corrrmendatur. Non ideo abluimur, ut delinquere desina- 
mus. sed quia desiimus ; quoniam jam corde loti sumus. — lb., § vi., p. 
125,' B. 

Collocavit in vestibulo poenitentiam secundam, quae pulsantibus pa- 
tefaciat, sed jam semel, quia jam secundo, sed amplius nunquam, quia 
proximus frustra. — lb., § vii., p. 126, B, C. 

Note 4. 

Collocavit in vestibulo. Consuetudo et ritus erat ut pcenitentes in 
vestibulo ecclesiae manerent, ad quern respicit. — Albasp. 

Sed amplius nunquam. Ergo una tantum erat post baptismum 
poenitentia. — Albasp . 

Note 5. 
Hujus igitur poenitentiae secundae et unius, quanto in acto negotium 
est, tanto operosior probatio est, ut non sola conscientia praeferatur, 
sed aliquo etiam actu administretur. Is actus .... exomologesis est, 
qua delictum Domino nostrum confitemur, non quidem ut ignaro, sed 
quatenus satisfactio confessione disponitur, confessione pcenitentia nas- 
citur, pcenitentia Deus mitigatur. — Tert., de Pcenitent., § ix., p. 126-7. 

Note 6. 
Itaque exomologesis prosternendi et humilificandi hominis disciplina 
est, conversationem injungens misericordiae illicem, de ipso quoque 
habitu atque victu mandat, sacco et cineri incubare ; corpus sordibus 
obscurare, animum mceroribus dejicere, ilia quae peccavit tristi tracta- 
tione mutare : ceterum, pastum et potum pura nosse, non ventris sci- 
licet, sed animae causa ; plerumque vero jejuniis preces alere, ingemis- 
cere, lacrymari, mugire dies noctesque ad Dominum Deum suum, pres- 
byteris advolvi, et caris Dei adgeniculari, omnibus fratribus legationes 
deprecationis suae injungere .... In quantum non peperceris tibi, in tan- 
tum tibi Deus, crede, parcet. Plerosque tamen hoc opus, ut publica- 
tionem sui aut suffugere, aut de die in diem differre, praesumo, pudor- 
is magis memores quam salutis : velut illi, qui in partibus verecundi- 



APPENDIX. 275 

oribus corporis contracta vexatione, conscientiam medentium vitant, et 
ita cum erubescentia sua pereunt. — lb., § ix., p. 127, A, B. 

Note 7. 
Ninum, Clementianum, Florum . . . . vi tormentorum subactos esse, et 
de gradu glorise, ad quam plena fidei virtute tendebant diutinis cruci- 
atibus excidisse : nee tamen post hunc gravem lapsum, non voluntate 
sed necessitate susceptum, a poenitentia agenda per hoc triennium de- 
stitisse. De quibus consulendum putastis an eos ad communicationem 
jam fas esset admittere. — S. Cyp., ep. ad Fortunatum et al., de Us qui 
per tormenta superantur, p. 84. 

Note 8. 
Nam cum in minoribus peccatis agant peccatores paenitentiam justo 
tempore, et secundum disciplinse ordinem ad exomologesin veniant, et 
per manus impositionem Episcopi et cleri jus communicationis accipi- 
ant : nunc crudo tempore, persecutione adhuc perseverante, nondum 
restituta Ecclesiae ipsius pace, ad communicationem admittuntur, et 
offertur nomen eorum : et nondum poenitentia acta, nondum exomolo- 
gesi facta, nondum manu eis ab Episcopo et Clero imposita, eucharis- 
tia illis datur, cum scriptum sit : Qui ederit panem aut biberit calicem 
Domini indigne, reus erit corporis et sanguinis Domini. — S. Cyp., ep. 
ad Clerum, de Presbyteris qui temere pacem lapsis dederunt, p. 21. 

Note 9. 
Magna est misericordiae merces, cui Deus pollicetur, peccata se om- 
nia remissurum. Si audieris, inquit, preces supplicis tui, et ego au- 
diam tuas : si misertus laborantium fueris, et ego in tuo labore misere- 
bor. Si autem non respexeris, nee adjuveris, et ego animum tuum 
contra te geram, tuisque te legibus judicabo. — Lactant., de vero cultu, 
I. vi., § 12, p. 404. 

Note 10. 

Deus enim purgari homines a peccatis maxime cupit, ideoque agere 
paenitentiam jubet. Agere autem poenitentiam nihil aliud est, quam 
proflteri et amrmare, se ulterius non peccaturum. — lb., § 13. 

Quod si mortalis conditio non patitur, esse hominem ab omni macula 
purum, debent ergo largitione perpetua peccata carnis aboleri. — lb., 
p. 405. 

Note 11. 
Nam si liberos nostros, cum delictorum suorum cernimus pcenitere, 
correctos esse arbitramur, et abdicatos, abjectosque rursus tamen sus- 
cipimus, fovemus, amplectimur ; cur desperemus clementiam Dei Pa- 
tris poenitendo posse placari ? Ergo idem Dominus, ac parens indul- 
gentissimus, remissurum se poenitentibus peccata promittit, et oblitera- 
turum omnes iniquitates ejus, qui justitiam denuo cceperit operari. — 
lb., § 24, p. 437. 



276 APPENDIX, 

Note 12. 

Capitulum I. 

Placuit inter eos r qui post fidem baptismi salutaris, adulta aetate, ad 

templum idolatraturus accesserit, et fecerit, quod est crimen principale, 

quia est summum scelus, placuit, nee in fine eum communionem acci- 

pere. — Con. General. Hard., torn, i., p. 250. Concilium Eliberitamtm. 

Note 13. 
VII. 
Si quis forte fidelis post lapsum mcechiae, post tempora constituta, 
accepta poenitentia denuo fuerit fornicatus, placuit, nee in fine habere 
eum communionem. — lb. 

Note 14. 
VIII. 
Item feminae, quas nulla praecidente causa, reliquerint viros suos, et 
se copulaverint alteris, nee in fine accipiant communionem. — lb. 

Note 15. 
XXXII. 
Si quis de catholica ecclesia ad haeresim transitum fecerit, rursus- 
que recurrent; placuit, huic po3nitentiam non esse denegandam, eo 
quod cognoverit peccatum suum. Qui etiam decern annis agat poeni- 
tentiam. Cui post decern annos praestari communio debet. Si vero 
infantes raerint transducti, quod non suo vitio peccaverint, incunetan- 
ter recipi debent. — lb. 

Note 16. 
LXXIV. 

Falsus testis, prout est crimen, abstinebitur. Si tamen non fuerit 
mortale quod objecit, et probaverit, .... biennii tempore abstineatur : si 
autem non probaverit conventui clericorum, placuit, per quinquennium 
abstineri. — lb. 

Note 17. 
LXXIX. 

Si quis fidelis alea, id est tabula luserit nummos, placuit eum absti- 
neri : et si emendatus cessaverit, post annum poterit communioni recon- 
ciliari. — lb. 

Note 18. 
Canon XII. 
Si qui vero per Dei gratiam vocati, primo quidem ostenderent fidem 
suam, deposito militiae cingulo ; post haec autem ad proprium vomitum 
sunt reversi, ut et pecunias darent, et ambirent redire rursum ad mili- 
tiam, isti decern annis sint inter poenitentes, post primum triennium 
quo fuerint inter audientes. Ab omnibus vero illud praecipue observe- 
tur, ut animus eorum et fructus paenitentiae attendatur. Quicumque 



APPENDIX. 277 

enim cum omni timore et lacrymis perseverantibus, et operibus bonis, 
conversionem suam non verbis solis, sed opere et veritate demonstrant ; 
cum tempus statutum (auditionis) etiam ab his fuerit impletum, et ora- 
tionibus jam coeperint communicare ; licebit episcopo humanius etiam 
circa eos aliquid cogitare. Qui vero indiiFer enter habuerunt lapsum, 
et sufficere sibi quod ecclesiam introierunt arbitrantur, isti omnimodo 
tempora statuta complebunt. — Concilium Niccenum, Condi. General. 
Hard., torn, i., p. 328. 

Note 19. 
Principium bonorum est pristinorum malorum depositio per veram 
poenitentiam et confessionem, quae ad bonum finem, scilicet ad Deum 
ipsum deducit. Etenim si nemo bonus nisi Deus, optimse viae ad Deum 
ducentis principium, confessio fuerit. Ideo dictum est, Bonum est con- 
fiteri Domino. Par quippe est non hominibus confessionem edere, sed 
ipsi Domino corda scrutanti. — Eusebii Ccesariensis Com.inPsal. 608, C. 

Note 20. 

Confitemini Domino, et invocate nomen ejus ; magnum quidpiam 

subindicans. At enim si confessus fueris, ait, et peccata deposueris, 
nomen ejus cum fiducia invocando magna edere opera valebis. Neque 
sine causa primo confiteri, postea invocare exoptat, sed ut per confes- 
sionem purgati, ex puro instrumento hymnum offeramus. — lb., 678, E. 

Note 21. 

Nam profectus secundum Deum initium confessio est, finis autem 
lsetitia secundum Deum; plurima vero sunt in medio horum posita. 
Oportet igitur homines primo confiteri Domino per sinceram poeniten- 
tiam, ac per fruetus confessioni congruentes : deinde vero ad meliora 
profectos confidere et invocare nomen ejus : sicque ubi post confessio- 
nem invocaverint eum, divinis charismatibus donari, &c. — lb., 679, E. 

See, also, the same work, p. 120-1, 690. 

Note 22. 

Qucestio LXXVI. Qu33 lex dat veniam omnium peccatorum ? 

Responsio. Domini dicentis : Ne judicetis et non judicabimini. Et 
rursus : Dimitte nobis, ut nos etiam dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Li- 
quet hinc, quod non judicare proximum veniam det omnibus peccatis. 
Similiter et non recordari offensarum. Remittite enim, inquit, et re- 
mittetur vobis. 

Note 23. 

Qucestio LXXVII. Si quis gravissimum commisisset peccatum, et 
resipuisset, unde debet discere, an remissum sit ei a Deo, necne ? 

Responsio. Hoc quidem paucis hominibus in terra planum fit : tamen 
quemadmodum Dominus et servus, sic et conscientia hominis et Deus 
se habent. Quemadmodum igitur servus lapsus cognoscet ex gestibus 
et verbis domini sui, quod non sit apud eum in gratia ut ante lapsum : 
sic etiam homo peccans perdit loquendi libertatem, quam habebat con- 



278 APPENDIX. 

scientia ipsius ad Deum in precibus suis. Resipiscenti autem homini 
digne, gratificatur rursus isti Deus loquendi libertatem, quam habuerat 
ad Deum ante lapsum. Et hinc cognoscit homo, quod Deus ipsi pec- 
catum condonaverit. — Athan., om. op., t. ii., p. 361. 
See, also, the same work, t. ii., p. 366-7, Qucest. XCI. 

Note 24. 
Tempus praesens est tempus eonfessionis. Confitere quae perpetrasti, 

sive verbo, sive opere, sive nocte sive die Si quid contra quemquam 

habes, remitte. Accedis ut veniam peccatorum accipias ; necesse est 
et te ei qui peccavit condonare ; alioqui, qua fronte dices Domino : Re- 
mitte rnihi multa mea peccata, cum tu neque pauca conservo tuo re- 
miseris? — S. Cyril, Hierosol. Cat. Prima, § v., vi., p. 18, 19. 

Note 25. 
Benignus est Deus, et non modice benignus. Tu namque ne dixe- 
ris : Scortator et adulter fui, gravia scelera patravi, idque non semel 
sed frequentissime. Numquid condonabit? Numquid dabit ut obli- 
viscatur ? Audi quid Psalmicen dicat : Quam magna multitudo benig- 
nitatis tuce, Domine! Non vincunt tua cumulata peccata multitudi- 
nem miserationum Dei. Non superant vulnera tua summi illius me- 
dici experientiam. Trade tantummodo te ipsum illi cum fide. Edis- 
sere medico morbum tuum, die et ipse cum Davide : Dixi, pronimtiabo 
adversum me iniquitatem meam Domino, et fiet tibi similiter id quod 
sequitur : Et tu remisisti impietatem cordis mei. — lb., Cat. Secund., 
§ vi., p. 24-5. 

Note 26. 
Maxima autem et utilissima est laetalium vitiorum morbis in eorum 
confessione medicina. Sed confessio peccati non est tanquam rerum 
aliis ignoratarum professio : ut si fur de furto, aut homicida de caede 
interrogatus confitetur. Neque tamquam ignorans qui scrutans corda 
et renes Deus est, ad scientiam sui confessione tua indiget : cui promp- 
tum est non solum cogitata, sed cogitanda perspicere. Confessio au- 
tem peccati ea est, ut id quod a te gestum est per cognitionem pec- 
cati confitearis esse peccatum Nullus autem id quod peccatum esse 

confessus est, deinceps debet admittere : quia confessio peccati profes- 
sio est desinendi .... Detersis itaque omnibus vitiis confessione opus est 
desinendi : et orandum semper ad Deum est, ut in cohibendis peccatis 
extinguendisque incentivis eorum. pendula voluntatis nostrae studia con- 
flrmet. Ob quod jam confidens Propheta, per confessionem ac precem 
suam in portu se innocentiae collocat cum ait : Confitebor tibi Domine 
in toto corde meo, quoniam audisti verba oris mei. — S. Hilarii in Psal. 
exxxvii. Enar. op. om., p. 1095-6. 

Note 27. 
Ad Deum itaque spes omnis nostra sit, et confessio omnis in Deo sit, 
exemplo Prophetae dicentis : Domine adjutor mens, et Redemptor mens. 
— lb., p. 700, C. 



APPENDIX. 279 

Note 28. 
Nihil occultum, nihil clausum, nihil obligatum sub Dei confessione 
in corde retinendum est. Effundendus coram eo omnis affectus est, ut 
nihil de nobis metipsis fiduciae sit ; sed ut per eum, ante quern nos tan- 
quani pro peccato efrandimus, adjuvemur. — S. Hilar, in Psal. lxii. 
Enar., p. 763-4. 

Note 29. 
Ubi peccati confessio est, ibi et justificatio a Deo est, quod in pub- 
licano et pharisaeo Dominus testatus est, cum pharisaeus justum se glo- 
riatus est, publicanus vero pro peccatis orasset. — lb., p. 1013. See, 
also, p. 1082, 799, 950, 664. 

Note 30. 
Movet scribas remissum ab homine peccatum. Hominem enim 
tantum in Jesu Christo contuebantur : et remissum ab eo, quod lex 
laxare non poterat. Fides enim sola jtjstieicat. Deinde murmura- 
tionem eorum Dominus introspicit, dicitque facile esse filio hominis in 
terra peccata dimittere. Verum enim nemo potest dimittere peccata, 
nisi solus Deus : ergo qui remittit Deus est, quia nemo remittit nisi 
Deus. Deus in homine manens curationem homini praestabat : et nulla 
ei agendi ant loquendi erat difficultas, cui subest totum posse quod lo- 
quitur. Porro autem ut ipse in corpore positus, intelligi posset esse, 
qui et animis peccata dimitteret, et resurrectionem corporibus praesta- 
ret, ait, Ut sciatis quoniam filius hominis habet potestatem in terra di- 
mittere peccata, ait paralytica : Surge, tolle factum tuum .... Et hono- 
rificaverunt Deum, qui tantam dedit potestatem hominibus. Conclusa 
sunt omnia ordine, et cessante jam desperationis timore, honor Deo red- 
ditur, quod tantam dederit hominibus potestatem : sed soli hoc Christo 
erat debitum, soli de communione paternae substantia hsec agere crat 
familiare. Non ergo hoc venit in admirationem quod posset ista (quid 
enim non posse Deus crederetur ?) alioquin laus de uno homine, non de 
pluribus extitisset : sed delati Deo honoris hinc causa est, qudd potes- 
tas hominibus hac via data sit per Verbum ejus, et peccatorum re- 
missionis, et corporum resurrectionis, et reversionis in ccelum. — S. Hi- 
lar., Com. in Matthceum, c. viii., p. 529, 530. 

Note 31. 
Vult tui misereri judex, teque miserationum suarum facere partici- 
pem : si modo post peccatum reperiret te humilem, contritum, prava 
opera multum deplorantem, ac ea quae clam facta sunt evulgantem ci- 
tra pudorem, rogantem fratres tibi ut sint adjumento ad accipiendam 
medelam. — S. Basil. Mag. Horn, in Psal. xxxii. opp., t. i., p. 134, E. 

Note 32. 
Unum porro vitandum est tibi, peccatum videlicet, et unicum ex raa- 
lis refugium tibi sit Deus. Ne confidite principibus, ne efleramini ani- 
mo in incerto divitiarum, ne superbiatis ob coi-poris vires, ne human® 



280 APPENDIX. 

gloriae prosequamini splendorem. Nihil horum ducit ad salutem, tem- 
poraria omnia, omnia fallacia : refugium unicum Deus. Maledictus 
homo qui spent ponit in homine, aut in aliqua re humana. — S. Basil. 
Mag. Horn, in Psal. xlv. opp., t. i., p. 171, B. 

Note 33. 

Interrogatio. An oporteat vetitas actiones citra verecundiam omnibus 
detegere, aut aliquibus dumtaxat, et quinam hi sunt ? 

Responsio. Servanda est ratio eadem in peccatorum confessione, 
quae in detegendis corporis morbis adhibetur. Quemadmodum igitur 
corporis morbos non omnibus patefaciunt homines, neque quibusvis, sed 
iis qui horum curandorum periti sunt ; ita fieri quoque debet peccato- 
rum confessio, coram iis, qui curare haec possint, prout scriptum est : 
Vos qui fortes estis, infirmitates debilium portate : hoc est, cura et dili- 
gentia tollite. — S. Basil. Mag. opp., t. ii., p. 492. 

Note 34, 

Interrogatio. Qui confiteri vult peccata sua, debetne confiteri omnibus, 
et quibuslibet, aut quibus ? 

Responsio Peccata iis confiteri necesse est, quibus mysterio- 

rum Dei concredita dispensatio est. Sic enim et qui olim poenitentiam 
egerunt, coram Sanctis fecisse comperiuntur. Scriptum est enim, in 
Evangelio quidem, quod peccata sua Joanni Baptistae confitebantur ; 
in Actis vero, Apostolis ipsis, a quibus etiam baptizabantur cuncti. — 
lb., p. 516. See, also, p. 393. 

Note 35. 
Oportet autem eos non omnino arcere ab Ecclesia, sed auditione 
dignari duobus vel tribus annis : ac posthac ipsis permittere, ut con- 
sistant quidem, abstineant vero a boni communione, et sic, exhibito 
poenitentiae aliquo fructu, communionis loco restituere. — S. Basil. Ca- 
non. 1, opp., t. hi., p. 272. 

Note 36. 
Ne peccatum tuum confiteri grave ducas, sciens quo pacto Johannes 
baptizaverit ; ut per hujus vitae pudorem futuri seculi pudorem ignomin- 
iamque fugias, . . . . ac perspicuum facias te serio atque ex animo pec- 
catum odisse ac detestari, dum illud tanquam contumelia dignum tradu- 
cis ac velut ludibrio exponis, de eoque triumphurn agis. — Greg. Naz. 
opp., p. 657, A. 

Note 37. 
Merito reprehendentur qui saepius agendam poenitentiam putant, 
qui luxuriantur in Christo. Nam si vere agerent poenitentiam, iteran- 
dam postea non putarent ; quia sicut unum baptisma, ita una poeniten- 
tia, quae tarn en public e agitur, nam quotidiani nos debet poenitere pec- 
cati : sed haec delictorum leviorum, ilia graviorum. - — S. JLmbros. de 
Panitent., lib. ii., cap. x., ^ 95, opp., t. ii., p. 436. 



APPENDIX. 281 

Note 38. 
Ego dixi: Domine, miserere mei : sana animam meam, quia peccavi 
tibi. Potest et ex persona regis David hoc dici, qui videns in Spiritu 
tantam victoriam et gratiam Christi, petit ut in ilia reraissione pecca- 
torum omnium et sui misereatur .... Confitetur ergo peccatum suum, 
ut accipiat remissionem, et generalis indulgentise munus inveniat. — S. 
Ambros. in Psal. xl., § 14, opp., t. i., p. 872. 

Note 39. 
Simile illi hoc dixit : Annuntiabo adversum me iniquitatem meam 
Domino .... Sed non satis est ut confiteamur errorem : verum etiam si 
corrigi volumus, a Domino postulemus, ut doceat nos justification's 
suas, ne postea errare possimus. A Domino igitur doceri petit, quia 
unus est magister noster, ut ait Christus. Nee otiose hoc petit, non 
enim ille beatus quern docet homo : sed quern tu erudieris, Domine. — : 
S. Ambros. in Psal. cxviii. Exposition opp., t. i., p. 1012, § 11. 

Note 40. 
Ergo cui Christus peccata donavit, recte dicit : Retribue servo tuo, 
ut vivam, et custodiam verba tua .... Sicut in prophetico libro testifica- 
tur ipse dicens : Ego sum, ego sum, qui deleo iniquitates tuas, et memor 
non ero . . . . Quicumque ergo dicit iniquitates suas Deo, justificatur : 
et quicumque justificatur, retributionem non timet, sed exposcit : qui 
retributionem non timet, vivet. — S. Ambros. in Psal. cxviii. Exp., opp., 
t. i., p. 996, § 10. See, also, p. 1080, § 5 ; p. 838, § 51. 

Note 41. 
Humilitas autem commendat orationem. Siquidem et Pharisaeus 
ille reprehensus est qui jejunia sua velut beneficia enumerabat, et 
tamquam objectabat Deo, et se criminum memorabat exsortem. Pub- 
licanus autem prsedicatus est, qui a longe stans nolebat oculos ad cae- 
lum levare, sed percutiebat pectus suum dicens : Domine Deus propitius 
esto mihi peccatori. Et ideo divina eum sententia prsetulit dicens : 
Quia descendit hie publicanus justificatus magis quam pharisceus. Ille 
enim justificatur qui peccatum proprium confitetur, sicut locutus est 
ipse Dominus : Die iniquitates tuas, ut justificeris. — S. Ambros. opp., 
t. i., p. 199, § 34. 

Note 42 o 
Qui pcenitentiam agit, paratus esse debet ad opprobria perferenda 
injuriasque subeundas ; nee commoveri, si quis ei peccati sui crimen 
objiciat. Cum enim ipse accusare se debeat, quemadmodum alium 
non sustinet argumentum ? — S. Ambros. in Psal. xxxvii. Enar., opp,, 
t. i., p. 820, § 13. 

Note 43. 
Pater, inquit, peccavi in caelum, et coram te. Hsec est prima confes- 
sio apud auctorem naturae, prsesulem misericordin?, arbitrum culpee, 



282 APPENDIX. 

Sed etsi Deus novit omnia, vocem tamen tuae confesssionis exspectat. 
Ore enim confessio fit ad salutem .... Frustra autem velis occultare, 
quern nihil fallat, et sine periculo prodas, quod scias esse jam cogni- 
tum. Confitere magis, ut interveniat pro te Christus, quern advoea- 
tum habemus apud Patrem : roget pro te Ecclesia, et illacrymet popu- 
lus. Nee vereare ne non impetres. Advocatus spondet veniam, pa- 
tronus promittit gratiam, reconciliationem tibi paternae pietatis pollice- 
tur adsertor. Crede, quia Veritas est : adquiesce, quia virtus est. — S. 
JLmbros. Exp. Evang. sec. Luc, 1. vii., opp., t. i., p. 1465, § 225. See, 
also, p. 1461, § 207, 208; p. 1357, § 11 ; p. 819, § 10; p. 1377, § 92 ; 
p. 694, § 55; p. 1365, § 55. 

Note 44. 
Facilius autem inveni qui innocentiam servaverint, quam qui con- 
grue egerint poenitentiam. An quisquam illam poenitentiam putat, 
ubi adquirendaa ambitio dignitatis, ubi vini effusio, ubi ipsius copulas 
conjugalis usus ? Renuntiandum saeculo est : somno ipsi minus indul- 
gendum, quam natura postulat, interpellandus est gemitibus, interrum- 
pendus est suspiris, sequestrandus orationibus ; vivendum ita, ut vitali 
huic moriamur usui, se ipsum sibi homo abneget, et totus mutetur. — 
S. JLmbros. de Poznitent., lib. ii., cap. x., § 96, opp., t. ii., p. 436. 

Note 45. 
Si quis igitur occulta crimina habens, propter Christum tamen stu- 
diose poenitentiam egerit, quomodo ista (nempe, fructus poenitentiae) 
recipit, si ei communio non refunditur? Volo veniam reus speret, pe- 
tat earn lacrymis, petat gemitibus, petat populi totius fletibus, ut ignos- 
catur, obsecret ; et cum secundo et tertio fuerit clilata ejus communio, 
credat se remissius se supplicasse, fletus augeat, miserabilior postea 
revertatur, teneat pedes brachiis, osculetur osculis, lavet fletibus, nee 
dimittat, ut de ipso dicat Dominus Jesus : Remissa sunt peccata ejus 
multa : quoniam dilexit multum. — lb., 1. i., c. xvi., § 90, opp., t. ii., p. 
414. 

Note 46. 

Cognovi quosdam in poenitentia sulcasse vultum lacrymis, exarasse 

continuis fletibus genas, stravisse corpus suum calcandum omnibus, je- 

juno ore semper et pallido mortis speciem spiranti in corpore prastu- 

lisse.— lb., § 91. Seei6., p. 435, § 91, 92. Also, p. 314, § 35, 36. 

Note 47. 
Sed tu quae jam ingressa es agonem poenitentias, insiste, misera : 
fortiter inhaere tamquam in naufragiis tabulae, sperans per ipsam te de 
profundo criminum liberari. Inhaere poenitentiae usque ad extremum 
vitae, nee tibi praesumas ab humana die veniam dari; quia decipit te 
qui hoc tibi polliceri voluerit. Quae enim proprie in Dominum pec- 
casti, ab ipso solo te convenit in die judicii exspectare remedium. — S. 
Jlmbros. de Lapsu Virg. Con., opp., t. ii., p. 315, § 38. 



APPENDIX. 283 

Note 48. 
Petas ultro carcerem pcenitentise, obstringas catenis viscera, animam 
tuam gemitibus jejuniisque crucies, sanctorum petas auxilium, jaceas 
sub pedibus electorum, ut non tibi cor impoenitens thesaurizet iram 
in die irae et justi judicii Dei, qui reddet unicuique secundum opera 
sua.— 16., p. 316, § 40. 

Note 49. 
Ecclesia in utroque servat obedientiam ut peccatum et alliget et 
relaxet : . . . . Recte igitur hoc Ecclesia vindicat, quse veros sacerdotes 
habet ; hseresis vindicare non potest, quse sacerdotes Dei non habet. — 
S.Ambros. de Pcenitent., lib. i., opp., t. ii., p. 391, 397. 

Note 50. 
Specta etiam illud, quoniam qui Spiritum Sanctum accepit, et sol- 
vendi peccati potestatem et ligandi accepit. Sic enim scriptum est ; 
Accipite Spiritum Sanctum: quorum remiseritis peccata, remittuntur : et 
quorum detinueritis, detenta erunt. Ergo qui solvere non potest pec- 
catum, non habet Spiritum Sanctum. Munus Spiritus Sancti est offi- 
cium Sacerdotis, jus autem Spiritus Sancti in solvendis, ligandisque cri- 
minibus est : quomodo igitur munus ejus vindicant, de cujus diffidunt 
jure et potestate? — lb., p. 392, h 8. See, also, p. 399, § 33. 

Note 51. 
Homines autem in remissionem peccatorum ministerium suum ex- 
hibent, non jus alicujus potestatis exercent. Neque enim in suo, sed 
in Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti nomine peccata dimittunt. Isti ro- 
gant, divinitas donat ; humanum enim obsequium, sed munificentia su- 
pernee est potestatis. — S. JLmbros. de Spirit. Sane, opp., t. ii., p. 693, 
137. 

Note 52. 
Tibi dabo claves regni codorum ; et quodcumque ligaveris super terram, 
erit ligatum et in ccelo : et quodcumque solveris super terram, erit solutum 
et in cozlo .... Quod Petro dicitur, apostolis dicitur. Non potestatem 
usurpamus, sed servimus imperio, ne postea cum venerit Dominus, et 
ligatos invenerit quos oportuit solvi, commoveatur adversus dispensa- 
torem, qui ligatos servaverit servos, qups Dominus jusserat solvi. — S. 
Ambros. in Psal. xxxviii. Enar., opp., t. i., p. 858, § 37. 

Note 53. 
Cur ergo manus imponitis et benedictionis opus creditis, si quis 
forte revaluerit segrotus ? Cur prsesumitis aliquos a colluvione diaboli 
per vos mundari posse ? Cur baptizatis, si per hominem peccata di- 
mitti non licet ? In baptismo utique remissio peccatorum omnium est ; 
quid interest, utrum per poenitentiam, an per lavacrum, hoc jus sibi da- 
tum sacerdotes vindicent ? Unum in utroque mysterium est. — S. Am- 
bros. de Poenitent., lib. i., c. viii., p. 400, § 36. 



284 APPENDIX. 

Note 54. 
Vera ergo medicina est gerere poeniteRtiam : quae tunc legitime 
praedicata est, quando medicus venit e ccelo, qui non exasperaret vul- 
nera, sed sanaret. — S. Ambros. opp., t. i., p. 816, § 4. 

Note 55. 
Et ideo qui sumus in hoc corpore mortis, oremus ne bonus ille di- 
lectus Dei medicus nos derelinquat, quern patriarcha David ne a se 
discederet, precabatur .... Vide eum qui curari velit, omni genere med- 
ico adquiescentem : adtende ordinem. Aperit primo vulnera sua med- 
ico, et dicit : Cura me, sed rogo ne in ira tua, quia non sustinent du- 
ram medicinam infirmitates meae. Medicina Christi, correptio est, cor- 
ripit enim Dominus quern vult convertere. — S. Ambros. in Psal. xxxvii. 
Enar., opp., t. i., p. 840, § 56. 

Note 56. 
Aufer, igitur, domine Jesu, potenti machaera tua putredines pecca- 
torum : dum me habes ligatum caritatis vinculis, seca quodcumque vi- 
tiosum est ... . Inveni medicum qui in coelo habitat, et in terris spar- 
git medicamentum. Hie solus potest sanare vulnera mea, qui sua nes- 
cit : hie auferre cordis dolorem, palloremque animse, qui novit occulta. 
— S.Ambros. Exp. Evang. sec. Luc, 1. v., § 27, opp., p. 1362. 

Note 57. 
Non confunditur, etiamsi erubescenda commiserit, qui veniam de- 
lictorum poscit a Christo. Ideoque respondetur ei : Dimissa sunt pec- 
cata tua .... Vade in pace. Sed ita non confunditur, si fuerit in eo 
operata peccatorum remissio, ut non solum peccata, sed etiam peccandi 
affectum auferat. Justitia remittat iniquitates, fortitudo timorem, tem- 
perantia impuritates, ut non solum temporalis sed etiam perpetua fiat 
remissio peccatorum. Intret in animam tuam Christus, inhabitet in 
tuis mentibus Jesus ; ut in tabernaculo virtutis peccato locus esse non 
possit. — S.Ambros.in Psal. cxviii. Expos., opp., t. L, p. 1016, § 26. 

Note 58. 
Enimvero perfecta in Baptismo quidem poenitentia est. Sed si quis 
exciderit, non ilium sancta Dei Ecclesia perditum voluit; imo et recep- 
tum, et post pcenitentiam mutandi consilii facultatem indulget. — S. 
Epiph. adv. Hares., opp., t. i., p. 493, D. 

Note 59. 
Quod ad eos vero spectat, qui in persecutione prolapsi sunt, etiam 
illis, si in sacco ac cinere sedentes, coramque Domino flentes, perfec- 
tam prse se poanitentiam tulerint, beneficus ille Deus misericordiam ad- 
hibere potest. — lb., p. 500, A. 



APPENDIX. 285 

Note 60. 
Quamvis grave sit peccatum, si quis convertatur, eum posse sanari. 
— S. Hieron., t. v., p. 28, G. 

Note 61. 
Funibus enim peccatorum suorum unusquisque constringitur, quos 
funes atque vincula solvere possunt et Apostoli imitantes Magistrum 
suum qui eis dixerat, Qucecumque solveritis super terram, erunt soluta 
et in ccelo. Solvunt autem eos Apostoli sermone Dei, et testimoniis 
Scripturararn, et exhortatione virtutum. — S. Hieron. Com. in Es., c. 
xiv., t. v., p. 68-9. 

Note 62. 
Ad sacerdotis pertinet disciplinam, interrogatum respondere de lege. 
Qui si ignorantiam in cseteris diligentem, in Scripturis Sanctis obten- 
derit negligentem, frustra jactat dignitatem, cujus opera non exhibet. 
Hoc est quod Apostolus Paulus scribit ad Titum, Ut potens sit ex- 
kortari in doctrina sana, et contradicentes revincere. Et ad Timo- 
theum, Quoniam ab infantia sacras liter as nosti, quce te possint insinc- 
ere ad salutem, ut peccantes coram omnibus arguas. — S. Hieron. Com. 
in Malach., c. ii., opp., t. vi., p. 236, D. 

Note 63. 
Si quem serpens Diabolus occulte momorderit, et nullo conscio eum 
peccati veneno infecerit, si tacuerit qui percussus est, et non egerit 
poenitentiam, nee vulnus suum fratri et Magistro voluerit confiteri, 
Magister qui linguam habet ad curandum, facile ei prodesse non pote- 
nt. Si enim erubescat aegrotus vulnus medico confiteri quod ignorat, 
medicina non curat. — S. Hieron. Com. in Ecclesiasten, c. x., opp., t. vii., 
p. 75, F. 

Note 64. 
Beati quorum remissse sunt iniquitates, quorum peccata per confes- 
sionem a Domino diluuntur. Quibus modis remittuntur peccata? 
Tribus. Remittuntur per Baptismum, teguntur per charitatem, non 
imputantur per martyrium. — S. Hieron. Com. in Psal. xxxi., opp., t. 
viii., p. 36, H. 

Note 65. 
Erasmus, secretam hie peccatorum confessionem apud veteres fuisse 
negat, publicam tantum, quae ob publica facinora perageretur, admit- 
tit. — Scholium Marini Victor. Reatini in Epis. S. Hieron., opp., t. x., p. 
43, F. 

Note 66. 
Tres sunt autem actiones poenitentige, quas mecum Vestra Eruditio 
recognoscit. Sunt enim usitatse in Ecclesia Dei, et diligenter adten- 
dentibus notse. Una est quse novum hominem parturit, donee per bap- 



286 APPENDIX. 

tismum salutare omnium praeteritorum fiat ablutio peccatorum : ut 
tanquam puero nato dolores transeant, quibus viscera urgebantur ad 
partuni, et tristitiam lastitia consequatur. Omnis enim, qui jam arbi- 
ter voluntatis suae constitutus est, cum accedit ad sacramenta fidelium, 
nisi eum pceniteat vitae veteris, novam non potest inchoare. Ab hac 
poenitentia, cum baptizantur, soli parvuli sunt immunes : nondum enim 
uti possunt libero arbitrio. — S. Augustin., t. v., p. 942, § 2. 

Note 67. 
Altera vero poenitentia est, cujus actio per totam istam vitam qua 
in carne mortali degimus, perpetua supplicationis humilitate subeunda 
est. — lb., p. 943, § 3. . . . Unde etiam orantes dicimus, quod in tota ista 
vita oportet ut dicamus : Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos di- 
mittimus debitoribus nostris. Non enim ea dimitti precamur, quae jam 
in baptismo nisi dimissa credimus, de ipsa fide dubitamus : sed utique 
de quotidianis peccatis hoc dicimus, pro quibus etiam sacrificia elee- 
mosynarum, jejuniorum, et ipsarum orationum ac supplicationum quis- 
que pro suisviribus ofFerre non cessat. — lb., t. v., p. 945, § 6. 

Note 68. 
Tertia actio est pcenitentiae, quae pro illis peccatis subeunda est, quae 
Legis decalogus continet; et de quibus Apostolus ait, Quoniam qui 
talia agunt, regnum Dei non possidebunt. In hac ergo poenitentia, 
majorem quisque in se severitatem debet exercere ; ut a se ipso judi- 
cata?, non judicetur a Domino. — lb., p. 945-6, § 7. 

Note 69. 
Implicatus igitur tarn mortiferorum vinculis peccatorum detrectat, 
aut duTert, aut dubitat confugere ad ipsas claves Ecclesiae, quibus sol- 
vatur in terra, ut sit solutus in coelo ? . . . . Judicet ergo se ipsum homo 
in istis voluntate, dum potest, et mores convertat in melius, ne cum 
jam non poterit, etiam praeter voluntatem a Domino judicetur. Et 
cum ipse in se protulerit severissimae medicinae, sed tamen medicinae 
sententiam, veniat ad antistites, per quos illi in Ecclesia claves minis- 
trantur : et tamquam bonus jam incipiens esse films, maternorum mem- 
brorum ordine custodito, a praepositis sacramentorum accipiat satisfac- 
tionis suae modum ; ut in offerendo sacrificio cordis contribulati devotus 
et supplex, id tamen agat quod non solum ipsi prosit ad recipiendam 
salutem, sed etiam ceteris ad exemplum. Ut si. peccatum ejus, non 
solum in gravi ejus malo, sed etiam in tanto scandalo aliorum est, at- 
que hoc expedire utilitati Ecclesiae videtur antistiti, in notitia multo- 
rum, vel etiam totius plebis agere paenitentiam non recuset, non resis- 
tat, non lethali et mortiferae plagae per pudorem addat tumorem. — 76., 
t. v., p. 947, § 9. 

Note 70. 
Nemo arbitretur, Fratres, propterea se consilium salutiferae hujus 
pcenitentiae debere contemnere, quia multos forte advertit et novit ad 
sacramenta altaris accedere, quorum talia crimina non ignorat. Multi 



APPENDIX. 287 

enim eorriguntur, ut Petrus ; multi tolerantur, ut Judas ; multi nesciun- 
tur, donee veniat Dominus, qui illuminet abscondita tenebrarum, et 
manifestet cogitationes cordis. Nam plerique propterea nolunt alios 
accusare, dum se per illos cupiunt exensari. Plerique autem boni 
Christiani propterea tacent, et sufferunt aliorum peccata quae noverunt, 
quia documentis ssepe deseruntur, et ea quae ipsi sciunt, judicibus Ec- 
clesiasticis probare non possunt. Quamvis enim vera sint quaedam, 
non tamen judici facile credenda sunt, nisi certis indiciis demonstren- 
tur. Nos vero a communione prohibere quemquam non possumus 
(quamvis haec prohibitio nondum sit mortalis, sed medicinalis), nisi aut 
sponte confessum, aut in aliquo sive saeculari, sive Ecclesiastico judi- 
cio nominatum atque convictum. Quis enim sibi utrumque audeat 
assumere, ut cuiquam ipse sit et accusator et judex? — lb., t. v., p. 
948, § 10. 

Note 71. 
Non enim sine causa inter omnes apostolos hujus Ecclesiae Catholi- 
cae personam sustinet Petrus, huic enim Ecclesiae claves regni ccslo- 
rum datss sunt, cum Petro datae sunt. Et cum ei dicitur, ad omnes 
dicitur, Amas me? Pasce oves meas. Debet ergo Ecclesia catholica 
correctis et pietate firmatis filiis libenter ignoscere. — lb., t. vi., p. 190, 
§ 32, B. 

Note 72. 
Est enim Ecclesia corpus ejus, sicut apostolica doctrina commendat, 
quae etiam conjunx ejus dicitur. — lb., t. iii., Pars 1, p. 8, § 15. 

Note 73. 
Has igitur claves dedit Ecclesiae suae, ut quae solveret in terra soluta 
essent in caslo, quae ligaret in terra ligata essent in caelo: scilicet ut 
quisquis in Ecclesia ejus dimitti sibi peccata non crederet, non ei di- 
mitterentur. — lb., § 17. 

Note 74. 
Et cum dixisset, Accipite Spiritum Sanctum, continuo subjecit, Si cut 
dimiseritis peccata, dimittuntur ei : hoc est, Spiritus dimittit, non vos. 
Spiritus autem Deus est. Deus ergo dimittit, non vos. Sed ad Spiri- 
tum quid estis vos? Nescitis quia templum Dei estis, et Spiritus Dei 
habitat in vobis ? Et iterum, Nescitis quia corpora vestra templum in 
vobis est Spiritus Sancti, quern habetis a Deo ? Deus ergo habitat in 
templo sancto, hoc est, in Sanctis fidelibus, in Ecclesia sua : per eos 
dimittit peccata ; quia 'viva templa sunt. — lb., t. v., p. 366, D, E. 

Note 75. 
Sed scio me postea saepissime sic exposuisse quod a Domino dictum 
est, Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram cedificabo Ecclesiam meam ; 
ut, super hanc, intelligeretur quem confessus est Petrus dicens, Tu es 
Christus filius Dei vivi : ac sic Petrus ab hac petra appellator perso- 
nam Ecclesise figuraret, quae super hanc petram aedificatur, et accepit 



288 APPENDIX. 

claves regni cceloruni. Non enim dictum est illi, Tu es Petra, sed, 
Tu es Petrus. Petra autem erat Christus, quern confessus Simon, sicut 
eum tota Ecclesia confitetur, dictus est Petrus. — S. Augustin. Retrac- 
tationum, lib. i., e. xxi., § 1, opp., t. i., p. 23. 

Note 76. 
Et vidi, inquit, sedes et sedentes super eos, et judicium datum est. 
Non hoc putandum est de ultimo judicio dici. sed sedes pra&positorum, 
et ipsi propositi intelligendi sunt, per quos Ecclesia nunc gubematur. 
Judicium autem datum nullum melius accipiendum videtur, quam id 
quod dictum est, Quce ligaveritis in terra, ligata erunt et in coelo, &c 
— S. Augustin. de Civitat. Dei. p. 443, lib. xx.. e. ix., § 2. 

Note 77. 
Sed erunt sacerdotes Dei et Christi et regnabunt cum eo milk annos ; 
non utique de solis episcopis et presbyteris dictum est. qui proprie jam 
vocantur in Ecclesia sacerdotes : sed sicut omnes Christianos dicimus 
propter mysticum chrisma, sic omnes sacerdotes. quoniam membra smit 
unius Sacerdotis. De quibus apostolus Petrus, Plebs, inquit, sancta, re 
gale sacerdotium. — i5., lib. xx., c x., p. 445. 

Note 78. 
Non enim peccata sola sunt ilia quae crimina nominantur, adulteria, 
fornicationes. sacrilegia, forta. rapinas, falsa testimonia; non ipsa sola 
peccata sunt .... Adtendere aliquid quod non debebas, peccatum est : 
audire aliquid libenter quod audiendum non fait, peccatum est: cogi- 
tare aliquid quod non fuit cogitandum, peccatum est. — lb. 

Note 79. 
Sed dedit Dominus noster post illud lavacrum regenerationis alia 
quotidiana remedia. Quotidiana nostra mundatio, Dominica oratio. 
Dicamus. et verum dicamus. quia et ipsa eleeinosyna est : Dimitte nobis 
debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Date eleemo- 
synas. et omnia mv.nda sunt vobis. — lb., t. v.. p. 744-5, § 9 and 10. 

Note 80. 
Ecce tota Ecclesia dicit, Dimitte nobis debita nostra. Habet ergo 
macmas et rugas. Sed confessione ruga extenditur, confessione mac- 
ula abluitur. Stat Ecclesia in oratione, ut mundetur confessione, et 
quamdiu hie vivitur, sic stat. Et cum de corpore exierit unusquisque, 
dimittuntur ei omnia, quas taha habebat ut dimitterentur debita : quia 
et quotidianis precibus dimittuntm- : et tunc erit mundatus, et thesau- 
rizatur Ecclesia in thesauros Domini aurum purum : ac per hoc in the 
sauros Domini Ecclesia est sine macula et ruga. — S. Augustin., t. v., 
p. 604, D, E. 

Note 81. 
Quoniam propter ipsa peccata humana et tolerabilia, et tanto ere- 



APPENDIX. 289 

briora, quanto minora, constituit Deus in Ecclesia tempore misericor- 
diae praerogandae quotidianam medicinam, irt dicamus, Dimitte nobis 
debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris ; ut his verbis 
lota facie ad altare accedamus, et his verbis lota facie corpore Christi 
et sanguine communicemus. — S. Augustin. Sermo de decern Chordis, 
t. v., p. 68, A. 

Note 82. 
Noli te extollere super Deum; subde te Deo, adora, prosternere, 
confitere illi qui fecit te : quia nemo recreat, nisi qui creat ; nemo re- 
ficit, nisi qui fecit ; ... ad medicum curras, medicum implores, qui ubi- 
que est. . . . Confitere ista omnia a Deo te habere quidquid boni habes, 
a te quidquid mali. Ne in bonis tuis ilium contemnas, te laudes ; ne in 
malis tuis ilium accuses, te excuses : ipsa est vera confessio. . . . Habes 
enim sacerdotem per quern possis placare Deum tuum, et ipse cum 
Patre Deus est ad te, qui homo est propter te. Ita jubilabis in Psalmis, 
praeveniens faciem ejus in confessione. Jubila in Psalmo : preeveniens 
faciem ejus in confessione, accusa te; jubilans in Psalmo, lauda ilium. 
Accusando te, et laudando eum qui fecit te, veniet qui mortuus est 
pro te, et vivificabit te. — S. Augustin. opp., t. v., p. 585-6. 

Note 83. 
In tantum autem hominum aliquando iniquitas progreditur, ut etiam 
post actam poenitentiam, post altaris reconciliationem, vel similia vel 
graviora committant, et tamen Deus facit etiam super tales oriri solem 
suum ; nee minus tribuit quam ante tribuebat largissima munera vitas 
et salutis. Et quamvis eis in Ecclesia locus humillimae poenitentiae 
non concedatur, Deus tamen super eos suae patientiae non obliviscitur. 
.... Quamvis ergo caute salubriterque provisum sit, ut locus illius hu- 
millimge poenitentiae semel in Ecclesia concedatur, ne medicina vilis 
minus utilis esset regrotis quae tanto magis salubris est quanto minus 
contemptibilis fuerit : quis tamen audeat dicere Deo, Quare huic ho- 
mini, qui post primam pcenitentiam rursus se laqueis iniquitatis obstrin- 
git, adhuc iterum parcis ? Quis audeat dicere erga istos non agi, quod 
Apostolus agit, Ignorans quia patientia Dei ad poznitentiam te adducit ? 
Aut istis exceptis esse definitum quod scriptum est, Beati omnes qui 
confidunt in eum ? Aut ad istos non pertinere quod dicitur, Viriliter 
agite, et confortetur cor vestrum, omnes qui speratis in Dominum ? — S. 
Augustin. Ep. ad Macedonium, t. ii., p. 399, B, D. 

Note 84. 
Si peccaverit in te f rater tuus, corripe eum inter te et ipsum solum. 
Quare ? Quia peccavit in te. Quid est, in te peccavit ? Tu scis 
quia peccavit. Quia enim secretum fuit, quando in te peccavit ; se- 
cretum quaere, cum corrigis quod peccavit. Nam si solus nosti quia 
peccavit in te, et eum vis coram omnibus arguere, non es correptor, 
sed proditor. Adtende quemadmodum vir Justus Joseph, tanto flagitio 
quod de uxore fuerat suspicatus, tanta benignitate pepercit .... voluit 
prodesse peccanti. non punire peccantem : Ciim. iuquit. nolle ( cam di~ 

N 



200 APPENDIX. 

vulgare, voluit earn occulte dimittere. . . . Peccavit ergo in te frater tuus; 
si tu solus nosti, tunc vere inte solum peccavit. 

Sic agamus, et sic agendum est. non solum quando in nos peccatur, 
sed quando peccatur ab aliquo, ut ab altero nesciatur. In secreto debe- 
mus corripere, in secreto arguere ; ne volentes publice arguere, pro- 
damus hominem. Nos volumus corripere et corrigere : quid si inimi- 
cus quaerit audire quod puniat ? Novit enim nescio quern homicidam 
Episcopus, et alius ilium nemo novit. Ego volo publice corripere, at 
tu quaeris inscribere. Prorsus nee prodo, nee negligo: corripio in se- 
creto : pono ante oculos Dei judicium ; terreo cruentam conscientiam ; 
persuadeo poenitentiam. Hac caritate praediti esse debemus. Unde 
aiiquando homines reprehendunt nos, quod quasi non corripiamus, aut 
putant nos scire quod nescimus, aut putant nos tacere quod scimus. 
Sed forte quod scis, et ego scio : sed non coram te corripio, quia curare 
volo, non accusare. Sunt homines adulteri in domibus suis, in secreto 
peccativr, aiiquando nobis produntur ab uxoribus suis, plerumque ze- 
lantibus, aiiquando maritorum salutem quaerentibus : nos non prodimus 
palam, sed in secreto arguimus. Ubi contigit malum, ibi moriatur 
malum. Non tamen vulnus illud neglighnus ; ante omnia ostendentes 
homini in tali peccato constitute sauciamque gerenti conscientiam, 
illud vulnus esse mortiferum, &c. — S. Augicstin., t. v., p. 310-11. 

Note 85. 
Puniendum est peccatum ; si puniendum non esset, non peccatum 

esset. Praeveni ilium (scil. Deum) ; non vis ut ipse puniat, tu puni 

Converte te ad punienda peccata tua, quia impunita esse peccata non 
possunt. Puniendum ergo erit, aut a te, aut ab ipso : tu agnosce, ut 
ille ignoscat. — S. Augustin. Enar. in Psal. xliv., t. iv., p. 292, B. 

Note 86. 
Ingemisce ad Deum, et comitens illi peccata tua, mereberis ab 
illo delectationem. — 16., in Psal. lxxxv., p. 676-7. 

Note 87. 
Quomodo ergo distinguis vota, quae reddis Deo ? Ut ilium laudes, 
te accuses : quia illius est misericordia, ut peccata nostra dimittat. 
Nam si vellet pro meritis agere, non inveniret nisi quos damnat. — lb., 
in Psal. xciv., t. iv., p. 769, B. 

Note 88. 
Quod autem instituitur praeter consuetudinem, ut quasi observatio 
sacramenti sit, approbare non possum, etiamsi multa hujusmodi propter 
nonnullarum vel sanctarum vel turbulentarum personarum scandala 
devitanda, liberius improbare non audeo. Sed hoc nimis doleo, quod 
multa quae in divinis libris saluberrime praecepta sunt, minus curan- 
tur ; et tarn multis praesumtionibus plena sunt omnia, ut gravius cor- 
ripiatur qui per octavas suas terram nudo pede tetigerit, quam qui 
mentem vinolentia, sepelierit. Omnia itaque talia, quae neque sancta- 
rum Scripturarum auctoritatibus continentur, nee in conciliis episcopo- 



APPENDIX. 291 

rum statuta inveniuntur, nee consuetudine universae Ecclesiae roborata 
sunt, sed pro diversorum locorum diversis moribus innumerabiliter va- 
riant ur, ita ut vix aut omnino numquam inveniri possint causae, quas in 
eis instituendis bomines secuti sint, ubi facultas tribuitur, sine ulla du- 
bitatione resecanda existimo. Quamvis enim neque hoc inveniri possit, 
quomodo contra fidem sint : ipsam tamen religionem, quam paucissimis 
et manifestissimis celebrationum sacramentis misericordia Dei esse li- 
beram voluit, servilibus oneribus premunt, ut tolerabilior sit conditio 
Judaeorum. qui etiamsi tempus libertatis non agnoverunt, legalibus ta- 
men sarcinis, non humanis praesumtionibus subjiciuntur. — S. JLugustin. 
opp., t. ii., p. 107, E. 

Note 89. 

De presbyteris pcenitentium curam gerentibus, et quomodo ea tempes- 
tate sublati fuerint. 

Sub idem tempus, (A.D. 390) presbyteros Ecclesiarum qui poeni- 
tentiae praeerant, placuit aboleri, idque ob hujusmodi causam. Post- 
quam Novatiani se ab Ecclesia sejunxissent, eo quod cum illis qui per- 
secutione Deciana lapsi fuerant, communicare noluissent, ex illo tem- 
pore Episcopi pcenitentiarium presbyterum albo Ecclesiastico adjece- 
runt, ut qui post baptismum lapsi essent, coram presbytero ad earn 
rem constituto, delicta sua confiterentur. Et apud alias quidem sectas 
haec regula etiamnum perseverat. Soli vero Homoousiani, et qui cum 
illis in fide consentiunt Novatiani, presbyterum pcenitentiae praepositum 
rejecerunt. Nam Novatiani ne initio quidem supplementum hoc ad- 
miserunt. Homoousiani vero qui nunc Ecclesias obtinent, cum hoc 
institutum diu retinuissent, tandem Nectarii Episcopi temporibus ab- 
rogarunt, ob facinus quoddam quod in Ecclesia commissum fuerat. 
Mulier quaedam nobilis ad poenitentiarium presbyterum accedens, de- 
licta post baptismum a se perpetrata singillatim confessa erat. Pres- 
byter vero praecepit mulieri, ut jejuniis et orationibus continuis vacaret, 
quo scilicet una cum delictorum confessione opus etiam poenitentiae 
conveniens ostenderet. Progressu temporis mulier aliud facinus con- 
fessa est, Ecclesiae videlicet diaconum cum ipsa stupri consuetudinem 
habuisse. Id cum dixisset, diaconus quidem Ecclesia ejectus est ; po- 
pulus vero graviter commoveri coepit. Neque enim solum ob scelus 
quod patratum fuerat indignabantui*, verum etiam eo quod labes hand 
mediocris atque infamia hoc facto adspersa videbatur Ecclesiae. Cum 
igitur earn ob causam Ecclesiastici homines dicteriis appeterentur, 
Eudaemon quidam Ecclesiae presbyter, Alexandria oriundus, Episcopo 
Nectario suasit, ut poenitentiarium quidem presbyterum expungeret, 
unumquemque vero pro arbitrio et pro animi sui conscientia ad sacra- 
mentorum communionem sineret accidere. Neque enim aliter fieri 
posse, ut Ecclesia ab omni probro libera esset. — Socratis Histories Ec- 
clesiastics, lib. v., c xix., p. 228. 

Note 90. 
Per idem tempus Nectarius Constantinopolitanus episcopus, presby- 
terum ilium qui praepositus erat poenitentibus, primus ex Ecclesia su.s- 



292 APPENDIX. 

tulit. Cujus ^xemplum omnes fere episcopi postea sunt secuti. Quid 
autem hoc sit, et unde originem sumpserit, et quam ob causam subla- 
tum sit, alii quidem aliter fortasse narrant. Ego vero ea dicam quae 
sentio. Cum in nullo penitus peccare, divinioris cujusdam naturae sit, 
et humana praestantioris ; poenitentibus vero, etiamsi saepius delique- 
rint, veniam dare Deus praeeeperit : cumque in petenda venia pecca- 
tuin necessario confiteri oporteat ; grave ac molestum ab initio jure- 
merito visum est sacerdotibus, tanquam in tlieatro, circumstante totius 
Ecclesiae multitudine, crimina sua evulgare. Itaque ex presbyteris 
aliquem, qui vitae integritate spectatissiinus esset, et taciturnitate ac 
prudentia polleret, huic officio praefecerunt : ad quern accedentes ii qui 
deliquerant, actus suos confitebantur. Ille vero pro cujusque delicto, 
quid aut facere singulos, aut luere oporteret, paenae loco indicens, ab- 
solvebat confitentes, a se ipsis pcenas criminum exacturos. Verum 
Novatianis quidem qui nullam rationem habent poenitentiae, nihil hac 
re opus fuit. Apud reliquas autem sectas, hie mos etiamnum perse- 
verat. Et in Occidentalibus Ecclesiis, ac praecipue in Ecclesia Ro- 
mana, studiose observatur. Illic enim in propatulo est paenitentium 
locus : in quo illi stant moesti, ac veluti lugentes. Peractisque jam 
missarum solemnibus, exclusi a communione sacrorum quae initiatis 
praeberi mos est, cum gemitu ac lamentis pronos se in terrain objiciunt. 
Tarn Episcopus cum lacrymis ex adverso occurrens, pariter ipse humi 
provolvitur, et universa Ecclesiae multitudo simul confltens, lacrymis 
perfunditur. Posthaec vero primus exsurgit Episcopus, ac prostratos 
erigit : Privatim autem unusquisque sua sponte se macerans, aut jeju- 
niis, aut illuvie, aut ciborum abstinentia, vel aliis quibus jussus est 
modis, tempus quantumcumque ipsi ab Episcopo constitutum est ex- 
spectat. Ubi vero praestitutus dies advenit, tanquam debito quodam 
persoluto, a poena commissi sceleris liberatur, et reliquo Ecclesiae po- 
pulo sociatur. Hcec Episcopi urbis Roma, jam inde ab ultima vetus- 
tate ad nostram usque cetatem custodiunt. In Constantinopoliiana au- 
tem Ecclesia, certus presbyter constitutus erat qui poznitentibus prceesset. 
Donee matrona quaedam nobilis, ob peccata quae confessa fuerat, jussa 
ab hoc presbytero jejunare, ac Deum suppliciter orare ; dum hujus rei 
causa in Ecclesia moraretur, a diacono se stupratam esse prodidit. 
Quo cognito, plebs omnis vehementer succensuit, eo quod contumelia 
illata esset Ecclesiae, nee mediocri probro expositi erant sacri ordinis 
viri. Nectarius vero, cum diu multumque dubitasset quidnam in hoc 
negotio agendum esset, eum qui stuprum admiserat, diaconatu exuit. 
Cumque nonnulli consilium ei dedissent, ut unicuique, prout sibi con- 
scius esset, ac fiduciam sui haberet, ad sacrorum mysteriorum commu- 
nionem accedendi liberam faceret potestatem, presbyterum qui agendae 
poenitentiae praepositus erat, abolevit. Atque ex eo tempore id firmum 
ac stabile permansit : vetustate, eique adjuncta gravitate ac severitate, 
jam turn, ut opinor, in laxam ac dissolutam vivendi rationem paulatim 
delapsa. Nam antea, ut equidem existimo, minora erant peccata, turn 
ob verecundiam eorum qui sua ipsi delicta euntiabant, turn ob severi- 
tatem judicum qui ad id erant constituti. — Sozoni. Hist. Ecc, lib. vii., 
c. 16. 



APPENDIX. 293 

Note 91. 
Nam qui correptus deploraverat, et ut lacrymavit, veniam obtinuit. 
Contentus enim est Judex misericors et laciymis. — S. Chrysost. Sermo 
de Adam, Sodomitis, Achab : et Pcenitent., t. i., p. 467. 

Note 92. 
Confiteamur illi multiplicem confessionem. . . . Assumentes vocem 
illam publicani, qui pectus suum tundebat, et se, sicut Pharisaeus, non 
jactabat : . . . . Quid ergo dicebat ? Propitius esto mihi peccalori. Num- 
quid singula facinora sua Deo enarrabat, quasi nescienti ? Aut pote- 
rat in memoria tenere ex initio nativitatis suae quae commiserat flagi- 
tiosus publicanus, reus omnium malorum ? Sed collecte summatimque 
clamavit et dixit, Quia nihil boni in me habeo quod dicam de me, sed 
totum malum sentio in me ; confitebor tibi Deo bono, qui non punis 
confitentes, sed liberas ad te confugientes : Propitius esto mihi pe ca- 
tori. Nullus desperet de malis suis, nullus praesumat de meritis suis. 
— S. Chrysost. Horn, in Psal. xxix., t. i., p. 726, D. 

Note 93. 
Quando autem Dominus justificat, quis est qui condemnet ? Non 
enim dixit Nathan, Quia ego concedo ; sed Dominus, inquit, transtulit 
peccatum tuum. . . . Et post haec verba abiit propheta in domum suam. 
— S. Chrysost. Horn, in Psal. 1., t. i., p. 843, C. 

Note 94. 
Et tu, David, quoniam moechatus es, et homicidium perpetrasti, 
ideo poenituisti et remissionem a Deo meruisti. Propterea temetipsum 
publicas, ut siquis est mceehus, et homicida, discat quoniam si conver- 
ses paenituerit, potest ad salutem venire. — 16., p. 843, D. 

Note 95. 
Neque enim te ad theatrum duco conservorum tuorum, nee te cogo 
peccata tua hominibus enunciare : conscientiam tuam Deo expone ; ei 
ostende facta et vulnera ; et ab eo medicinam pete. Ostende te non 
exprobanti, sed curanti. Ut enim taceas, tamen scit ille omnia — S. 
Chrysost. de Publicano et Pharisceo, Homil., t. i., p. 1266, D. 

Note 96. 
Suavis est Domino disputatio illius, qui per humilem confessionem 
se indicat scienti Deo, et cui se indicat nescienti Deus. De hac au- 
tem tali disputatione oritur delectatio : quia confessio non in se glori- 
antis, sed in agnitionem Dei proficit. — S. Prosperi Aquitani opp., in 
Psal. ciii., v. 34, Exposilio, p. 391. 

Note 97. 
Dicuntur autem ista ex eorum persona, qui veniam conversi pre- 
cantur ; et exempla commemorantur illorum, in quos etiam peccatores 
dives apparuit misericordia Dei. Incipit ergo iste Psalmus, sicut ille, 



294 APPENDIX. 

Confitemini Domino : sed ibi sequitur, et invocate nomen ejus : hie au- 
tem, Quoniam bonus, quoniam in sceculum misericordia ejus. Confessio 
igitur peccatorum habet laudationem Dei : quoniam qui indulgentiam 
petit, cum spe debet orare, et cum laude ejus misericordiae quam cre- 
dit aeternam. — lb., in Psal. cv., v. 1, p. 397. 

Note 98. 
Magnificentia Domini circa nos in eo apparet, quod nullis praece- 
dentibus meritis confitenteni justificat peccatorem : ut Ubi abundavit 
peccaium, superabundet gratia ; per quam excitata est etiam ipsa con- 
fessio ; ut nemo in se extollatur, sed Qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur. 
Quia et confessio peccatoris, et magnificentia justificationis, opus Do- 
mini est. — lb., in Psal. ex., v. 3, p. 419. 

Note 99. 
Bona est peccati confessio, si curatio consequatur. Nam quid pro- 
dest detegere plagam, et non adhibere medicinam ? — lb., p. 557. Sen- 
tent, ex Augustino. 

Note 100. 
Apud misericordiam Dei plurimum valet confessio poenitentis, quern 
facit peccator conntendo propitium, quern negando non facit nescium. 
— lb., p. 577. 

Note 101. 
Bene currit ad remissionem peccatorum, qui displicet sibi. Apud 
Judicem enim justum et misericordem. qui se accusat, excusat. — lb., 
p. 570. 

Note 102. 
Det peccatori veniam peccator, et aequa 
Conciliet Dominum conditione sibi. 
Cujus judicium de nostro examine pendet, 
Quod serimus metimus. quod damus accipimus. 

S. Prosperi JLquit. opp., p. 638. 

Note 103. 
Multiplex misericordia Dei ita lapsibus subvenit humanis, ut non so- 
lum per baptismi gratiam, sed etiam per poenitentiae medicinam spes 
vitae reparetur aeternee, ut qui regenerationis dona violassent, proprio 
se judicio condemnantes, ad remissionem criminum pervenirent : sic 
divinae bonitatis praesidiis ordinatis, ut indulgentia Dei nisi supplicatio- 
nibus Sacex'dotum nequeat obtineri. I\lediator enim Dei et hominum, 
homo Christtjs Jesus, hanc Praepositis Ecclesiae tradidit potestatem, 
ut et confitentibus actionem poenitentias darent, et eosdem salubri sa- 
tisfactione purgatos. ad communionem sacramentorum per januam re- 
conciliationis admitterent. . . . Multum enim utile ac necessarium est, 
ut peccatorum reatus ante ultimum diem Sacerdotali supplicatione sol- 
vatur. — Leonis Magni opp., t. i., p. 302. 



APPENDIX. 295 



Note 104. 
Illam etiam contra Apostolicam regulara. praesumtionem, quam nu- 
per agnovi a quibusdam illicita usurpatione committi, modis omnibus 
constituo submoveri : ne videlicet de singulorum peccatorum genere, 
libello scripta professio publicetur : cum reatus conscientiarum suffi- 
ciat solis sacerdotibus indicari confessione secreta. Quamvis enim 
plenitudo fidei videatur esse laudabilis, quae propter Dei timorem apud 
homines erubescere non veretur ; tamen quia non omnium hujusmodi 
sunt peccata, ut ea qui poenitentiam poscunt non timeant publicare ; 
removeatur tarn improbabilis consuetudo : ne multi a pcenitentiae reme- 
diis arceantur, dum aut erubescunt, aut metuunt inimicis suis sua facta 
reserari, quibus possint legum constitutione percelli. Sufficit enim ilia 
confessio, quss primum Deo offertur, turn etiam Sacerdoti, qui pro de- 
lictis poenitentium precator accedit. Tunc enim demum plures ad 
po3nitentiam poterunt provocari, si populi auribus non publicetur con- 
scientia confitentis. — Leonis Mag. Epis. ad universos Epis., t. i., p. 356. 

Note 105. 

Horum profecto nunc in Ecclesia Episcopi tenent. Ligandi atque 
solvendi auctoritatem suseipiunt, qui gradum regiminis sortiuntur. . . . 
Ssepe in solvendis ac ligandis subditis suae voluntatis motus, non autem 
causarum merita sequitur. Unde fit, ut ipsa hac ligandi et solvendi 
potestate se privet, qui banc pro suis voluntatibus, et non pro subjec- 
torum moribus exercet. 

Causae ergo pensandae sunt, et tunc ligandi atque solvendi potestas 
exercenda. Videndum est quae culpa praecessit, aut quae sit poeniten- 
tia secuta post culpam ; ut quos omnipotens Deus per compunctionis 
gratiam visitat, illos Pastoris sententia absolvat. Tunc enim vera est 
absolutio praesidentis, cum interni arbitrium sequitur judicis. Quod 
bene quatriduani mortui resuscitatio ilia significat, quae videlicet de- 
monstrat, quia prius mortuum Dominus vocavit et vivificat, dicens : 
Lazare, veni foras : et postmodum is qui vivens egressus fuerat a dis- 
cipulis est solutus, sicut scriptum est : Cumque egressus esset qui fue- 
rat ligatus institis, tunc dixit discipulis : Solvite eum, et sinite abire. 
Ecce ilium discipuli jam viventem solvunt, quem Magister resuscita- 
verat mortuum. Si enim discipuli Lazarum mortuum solverent, foeto- 
rem magis ostenderent quam virtutem. Ex qua consideratione intu- 
endum est, quod illos nos debemus per pastoralem auctoritatem solvere, 
quos auctorem nostrum cognoscimus per suscitantem gratiam vivifi- 
care. . . . Hasc de solutionis ordine breviter dixerim : ut sub magno mo- 
deramine Pastores Ecclesiae vel solvere studeant, vel ligare. — S. Greg. 
Mag. in Evangel., lib. ii., Horn, xxvi., ^ 5 and 6. t. i., p. 1555. 

Note 106. 
Sed poenitentiam agere digne non possumus, nisi modum quoque 
ejusdem pcenitentiae cognoscamus. Poenitentiam quippe agere, est et 
perpetrata mala plangere, et plangenda non perpetrare. Nam qui sic 



290 APPENDIX. 

alia deplorat, ut tamen alia committat. adhuc poenitentiam agere aut 
dissimulat, aut ignorat. — lb. opp., t. i., p. 1609, C. 

Note 107. 
Quod vero Dulcedo tua in suis Epistolis subjunxit importunam se 
mihi existere, quoadusque scribam mihi esse revelatum, quia peccata 
tua dimissa sunt, rem difficilem etiam et inutilem postulasti. Diffici- 
lem quidem, quia ego indignus sum cui revelatio fieri debeat. Inuti- 
lem vero, quia secura de peccatis tuis fieri non debes, nisi cum jam in 
die vitae tuse ultimo plangere eadem peccata minime valebis. Certe 
Paulus Apostolus jam ad tertium caelum ascenderat, in Paradisum quo- 
que ductus fuerat, arcana verba audierat, qua? bomini loqui non liceret : 
et tamen adhuc trepidans, dicebat, Castigo corpus meum, et servituti 
subjicio, ne forte aliis prcedicans, ipse reprobus efficiar. Adhuc timet 
qui jam ad caelum ducitur, et jam timere non vult qui adhuc in terra 
conversatur ? Perpende, Dulcissima Filia, quia mater negligentias 
solet esse securitas. Habere ergo in hac vita non debes securitatem, 
per quam negligens reddaris. Scriptum est enim, Beatus vir qui sem- 
per est pavidus. — lb. opp., t. ii., p. 869. 

Note 108. 
Et quidem quod nostram vos velle gratiam habere petitis, convenit 
ut Redemtori nostro pro his talibus satisfacere tota intentione mentis, 
ut dignum est, cum lacrymis debeatis ; quia si illi satisfactum non fue- 
rit, quid nostra relaxatio vel gratia poterit certe conferre? — lb. opp., 
p. 929, Ep. ad Marcellum Procon. 

Note 109. 
Poenitentiam enim vere agere, est commissa plangere, sed iterum 
plangenda declinare. — lb. opp^ t. ii., p. 1132, C. 

Note 110. 
Exaudi, Domine, preces nostras, et tibi confttentium parce peccatis : 
ut quos conscientiae reatus accusat, indulgentia tuae miserationis ab- 
solvat. Per Dominum. — lb., t. iii., p. 213, E. 

Note 111. 
Praeveniat hune famulum tuum, quaesumus, Domine, misericordia tua : 
ut omnes iniquitates ejus celeri indulgentia deleantur. Per Dominum. 
—lb., p. 214. 

Note 112. 
Prsssta, qusesumus, Domine, huic famulo tuo dignum pcenitentiee 
fructum : ut Ecclesise tuas sanctse, a cujus integritate deviarat pec- 
cando, admissorum reddatur innoxius veniam consequendo. Per Do- 
minum nostram. — lb. 

Note 113. 
Pcenitentia appellata, quasi punientia, eo quod ipse homo in se pu- 



APPENDIX. 297 

niat pcenitendo quod male admisit : nam nihil aliud agunt quos veraci- 
ter poenitet, nisi ut id quod male fecerunt impunitum esse non sinant. . . . 

Satisfactio autem est causas peccatorum et suggestiones excludere, 
et ultra peccatum non iterare. 

Reconciliatio vero est quae post complementum pcenitentiae adhibe- 
tur. 

Exomologesis Gi-aeco vocabulo dicitur, quod Latine Confessio inter- 
pretatur, cujus nominis duplex significatio est. Aut enim in laude in- 
telligitur confessio, sicut est, Confiteor tibi Pater, Domine cceli et terras. 
Aut dum quisque confitetur sua peccata ab eo indulgenda cujus inde- 
fieiens est misericordia. Ex hoc ergo Graeco vocabulo exprimitur 
et frequentatur exomologesis, qua delictum nostrum Domino confite- 
mur. . . . 

Confessio autem erroris, professio est desinendi. . . . Confessio autem 
antecedit, remissio sequitur : caeterum extra veniam est qui peccatum 
cognoscit, nee cognitum confitetur. Itaque exomologesis prosternendi 
et humiliandi hominis disciplina est, habitu atque victu, sacco et cineri 
incubare : corpus sordibus obscurare : animum moeroribus dejicere. — 
Isidor. Hispal. opp., p. 52-3. 

Note 114. 
Ipsa autem pcenitentia juxta qualitatem delictorum est ; nam sicut 
levia peccata occulta oratione delentur : ita gravia coram Ecclesia per 
poenitentiam et satisfactionem remittuntur. — lb., p. 240, B. 

Note 115. 
Pcenitentia autem nomen sumpsit a poena, qua anima cruciatur, et 
caro mortificatur. Hi vero qui poenitentiam agunt, proinde capillos 
et barbam nutriunt, ut demonstrent abundantiam criminum, quibus ca- 
put peccatoris gravatur. . . . Quod vero in cilicio prosternentur (per ci- 
licium quippe recordatio est peccatorum), propter haedos ad sinistram 
futuros. Inde ergo confitentes in cilicio prosternimur. . . . Cinere au- 
tem asperguntur, ut sint memores, quia cinis et pulvis sunt. . . . Pceni- 
tentiae autem remedium Ecclesia Catholica in spe indulgentiae fidenter 
alligat ad exercendos homines, et post unum baptismi sacramentum, 
quod singulari traditione commendatum, sollicite prohibet iterandum, 

medicinali remedio pcenitentiae subrogat adjumentum honorum dun- 

taxat dignitate servata ; ita ut a Sacerdotibus et Levitis Deo tantum 
teste fiat ; a caeteris vero astante coram Deo solenniter sacerdote ; ut 
hoc tegat fructuosa confessio, quod temerarius appetitus aut ignorantiae 
notatur contraxisse neglectus : ut sicut in baptismo omnes iniquitates 
remitti, vel per martyrium nulli peccatum credimus imputari : ita pce- 
nitentiae compunctione fructuosa, universa fateamur deleri peccata. 
Lacrymae enim pcenitentium, apud Deum pro baptismate imputantur. 
— lb., p. 406, C ; p. 407, A. 

Note 116. 
Quamvis per poenitentiam propitiatio peccatorum fit, sine metu ta- 
men homo esse non debet, quia poenitentis satisfactio divino tantum 

N 2 



298 APPENDIX. 

pensatur judicio, non humano. Proinde quia miseratio Dei occulta 
est, sine intermissione flere necesse est. Neque enim unquam oportet 
pcenitentem habere de peccatis securitatera. Nam securitas negligen- 
tiam parit : negligentia autem ssepe incautum ad vitia transacta redu- 
cit.— lb., p. 440, H. 

Note 117. 
Non posse peccata remitti ei qui in se peccanti debita non remittit. 
Formam enim nobis indulgentiae Deus ex merito conditionis nostrse im- 
posuit, dum ita orare nos prascipit, Remitte nobis debita nostra, sicut 
et nos remittimus debitoribus nostris. — lb., p. 466, F. 

Note 118. 
Confiteor tibi, Domine coeli et terrae, tibique bone et benignissime 
Jesu, una cum Sancto Spiritu, coram Sanctis Angelis tuis, et coram 
Sanctis tuis, coram hoc altari, et Sacerdote tuo, quia in peccatis con- 
ceptus, et in peccatis natus, et in peccatis nutritus, et in peccatis post 
baptisma usque ad hanc horam sum conversatus. Confiteor etiam, 
quia peccavi nimis in superbia, inani gloria, in extollentia tarn oculo- 
rum quam vestium, et omnium actuum meorum, in invidia, in odio, in 
avaritia tarn honoris quam pecuniae, in ira, in acedia, in ventris inglu- 
vie, in luxuria sodomitica, in sacrilegiis, &c. Similem reperire est 
priscorum Germanorum apud Goldastum libro de rebus Germanicis. 
^— S. Greg. Mag., t. iii.. p. 452-3. Not. etobserv. Hug.Menardiad Lib. 
Sac. 

Note 119. 
Extat etiam confessio S. Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi, litteris consig- 
nata a Redemto ejus clerieo, cum. impendente morte, palam confessus 
est in sede S. Vincentii generatim duntaxat, nihil particulatim expri- 
mens. — lb. 

Note 120. 
Extat etiam confessio Rotberti Cenomanensis Episcopi, edita a doc- 
tissimo viro Jacobo Sirmondo, S. J. (t. iii., Conciliorum Galliae), quam 
morti proximus misit per Epistolam, ad Episcopos qui erant in obsid- 
ione urbis Andegavensis cum Carolo Calvo Imperatore ; in qua etiam 
nullum speciale crimen confitetur : sed tantum se abominabilem et ex- 
ecrandum peccatorem esse profitetur. — lb. 

Note 121. 

In vetustissimo codice M S. Bibliothecas Corbiensis, cui titulus est, 
Ordo orationum, habetur confessio S. Fulgentii, quam hie subjicere 
non pigebit. 

Incipit Confessio S. Fulgentii Episcopi ad poznitentiam dandam. 

Ego confiteor tibi, Domine, Pater coeli et terrae, coram hoc altari 
tuo sancto, et istius loci reliquiis, et coram hoc Sacerdote tuo, omnia 
peccata mea, et omnia quaecumque Dei pietas ad memoriam reducit 
de cogitationibus turpibus, sive sermonibus otiosis et immundis, et quod 
ego contra praeceptum Dei feci. Confiteor etiam omnia cordis et cor- 



APPENDIX. 290 

poris mei vitia, sacrilegium, invidias, detractiones, perjuria, furta, ma- 
ledicta, convitia, turpiloquia, scurrilitates, mendaeia, irrisiones, insulta- 
tiones, simulationes, murmurationes, adulationes, tristitias, vigilias inu- 
tiles et Deo despicabiles, carnales concupiscentias-pessimas : et propter 
corporis mei suavitatem et delectationem, Dei prsecepta proposui, et 
transgressus fui per superbiam et elationem, et desidiam et pigritiam. 
Voluntates immundas perpetravi, fornicationes, pollutiones, luxurias, 
ebrietates, comessationes, homicidia manifeste et occulte in corpore et 
animo peregi. Patri meo, et matri mese, fratribus et sororibus, patruis 
et amitis, et consobrinis, sive omnibus propinquis et parentibus meis, 
secundum Dei prseceptum et Dei voluntatem honoris obsequium non 
exhibui. Seniorem carnalem, et amicos plus in malo quam in bono, 
auscultavi et obediens fui. Omnes Christianos, sicut Deus prsecepit, 
non dilexi. Semper aliis malum, non bonum exemplum et document- 
um, prsebui et ostendi. Dominicos dies et solemnitates sanctorum non 
digne, nee Deo acceptabiliter duxi, nee custodivi : et nescientibus non 
annuntiavi, sed ebriose et luxuriose in ipsis me pollui, et alios ad hoc 
incitavi. Latrocinium et furtum abscondi et cornedi, et abscondenti- 
bus consensi. Infirmos et in carcere positos non visitavi, nudos non 
operui. Hospites propter Deum non suscepi, nee eorum pedes lavi : 
esurientes non refeci, dolentes et flentes non consolatus sum : inter se 
discordantes, sive patentes, sive omnes Christianos, plus ad iram, quam 
ad pacem piovocavi. Ego confiteor, quia multum peccavi in visu, au- 
dita, gustu, odoratu, et tactu ; et multa mala cogitavi et perpetravi. 
Ego confiteor, quia in sancta Ecclesia multa mala cogitavi, et locutus 
fui inordinate et superbe ; in sancta Ecclesia steti, sedi, osculatus sum, 
aspexi, pertexi, jacui, consensi. Vasa sancta, et omne ministerium 
sanctum, pollutus tetigi. Osculo nefando pollutus sum. Et super 
sanctum altare, et in consecrata Ecclesia, et in benedicta cruce, et su- 
per sanctas reliquias juravi, et verba perjura, et mendaeia protuli, et 
perjuravi. Confiteor etiam, quia tibi, Omnipotenti Deo, et omnibus 
Sanctis, et omnibus bonis hominibus inobediens fui, et interius exteri- 
usque infidelis et molestus fui, contentiosus, odiosus, invidus, iracundus, 
avarus, cupidus, rapax, incredulus, immitis. Et meam orationem neg- 
ligenter in conspectu Dei effudi propter cogitationes inanes, et duro 
corde. Ego corpus Domini et sanguinem ejus, polluto corde et cor- 
pore, sine confessione et poenitentia, sciens indignus accepi. Episcopos, 
et probos Abbates, Monachos, Canonicos, et omnem Clerum Ecclesia?. 
Dei non amavi, non dilexi, nee eis obsequium honoris prsebui, sicut 
Deus prsecepit. Me ipsum per carnalia desideria, et per malas cogi- 
tationes, et per malam voluntatem, et per mala opera contaminavi, de- 
honestavi, perdidi, et vomntate Diabolo consensi. De bis omnibus et 
aliis innumerabilibus, quae propter multitudinem peccatorum, criminum, 
et scelerum meorum recordari non sufficio : et quod ego contra Dei 
voluntatem, et omnium sanctorum, et legem Christianam feci, et duro 
corde perpetravi, sive ignoranter, sive scienter, sive in cogitations 
mala, sive in verbo, seu in opere, vel etiam assiduitate vel delectatione 
peccati, sive in die, sive in nocte, horis atque momentis, sive vigilans, 
sive dormiens, seu qualicumque causa cogitassem aut facere voluissem, 



300 APPENDIX. 

et opere perpetrassem contra Dei voluntatem : >c ego hodie omnia 
tibi Deo, ac Domino cceli et terras confiteor coram sancto altari tuo in 
pura et vera confessione, et voluntate ad emendandum, et hsec peccata 
deinceps dimittenda; ut tu Deus omnipotens, qui dixisti, Nolo mortem 
peccatoris, sed ut convertatur et vivat, miserearis, et parcas, et remit- 
tas, et deleas omnia peccata, crimina, atque facinora, et delicta mea 
prseterita, prsesentia, et futura, et perducas me ad vitam aeternam. 
Amen. Supplico te, Dei Sacerdos, ut de his omnibus sis mihi testis in 
die judicii : ne gaudeat de me inimicus meus : et dignare pro me Dei 
misericordiam deprecari : ut donet mihi veniam indulgentise, et omnium 
peccatorum meorum remissionem. 

Responsio Sacerdotis. 

Misereatur tui omnipotens Deus, et donet tibi veram indulgentiam 
de peccatis tuis, et ulciscatur te de omnibus inimicis tuis invisibilibus, 
donet tibi Deus consilium in isto seculo, et perducat te feliciter ad vi- 
tam seternam. 

Hactenus Confessio S. Fulgentii Episcopi. ... In supra citato codice 
MS. Monasterii S. Remigii, Remis siti, est alia confessio huic similis : 
sed quia eadem habetur in ordine Romano, a qua tantum paucissimis 
verbis discrepat, non mihi visum est illam hie exscribere. Hanc in 
eodem codice MS. excipit haec unica Responsio Sacerdotis. 

Misereatur tui Omnipotens Deus, et dimittat tibi omnia peccata tua, 
liberet te ab omni opere malo, conservet te in omni opere bono, et per- 
ducat te per intercessionem omnium sanctorum ad gloriam sempiter- 
nam. Amen. — Greg. Mag. opp., t. iii., p. 452-3. 

Note 122. 
Hie Halitgarius fait Episcopus Cameracensis. . . . Vixit temporibus 
Ludovici Pii et Carol! Calvi, a quo ultimo missus est Constantinopolim 
ad Michaelem Imperatorem, &c. — lb., p. 462. 

Note 123. 

Incipit qualiter suscipere debeant poenitentem Episcopi vel Presbyteri. 

Quotiescumque Christiani ad pcenitentiam accedunt, jejunia damus, 
et nos communicare cum eis debemus jejunio unam aut duas septima- 
nas, aut quantum possumus ; ut non dicatur nobis quod Judaeorum Sa- 
cerdotibus dictum est a Domino Salvatore, Vce vobis, Legisperiti, qui 
adgravatis homines, et imponitis super humeros corum onera gravia, 
ipsi autem uno digito vestro non tangitis sarcinas ipsas. Nemo autem 
potest sublevare cadentem sub pondere, nisi inclinaverit se ut porri- 
gat manum : neque ullus medicorum vulnera infirmantium potest cu- 
rare, nisi fcetoribus particeps faerit : ita quoque nullus sacerdotum vel 
Pontifex, peccatorum vulnera curare potest, aut animabus peccata au- 
ferre nisi presstante sollicitudine, et oratione lacrymarum. • • • Ideoque 
et nos, si viderimus aliquem in peccatis jacentem, festinemus eum ad 
pcenitentiam per nostram doctrinam vocare. . . . Sicut ergo superius 
diximus, humiliarc se debent Episcopi, sive Presbyteri, et cum tristitia, 
gemitu, lacrymisque orare, non sohim pro suis delietis, sed etiam pro 



APPENDIX. 301 

Christianoruni omnium, ut possint cum B. dicere Paulo, Quis infirma- 
tur, et ego non infirmor, quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror ? 

.... Videns autem ille, qui ad poenitentiam venit, sacerdotem tristem 
et lacrymantem pro suis facinoribus, magis ipse timore Dei perculsus, 
amplius tristatur, et exhorrescet peccata sua. — S. Greg. Mag. opp., t. 
iii. ; Not. et observ. in Lib. Sac, p. 462-3. 

Note 124. 
Si quis forte non potuerit jejunare, et kabet unde dare ad redimen- 
dum, si dives fuerit, pro septem Hebdomadibus det solidos XX. Si 
autem non habuerit tantum unde dare, det solidos X. Si autem mul- 
tum pauper fuerit, det solidos III. Sed unusquisque adtendat, cui 
dare debet, sive pro redemptione captivorum, sive super sancto altari, 
sive pauperibus Cliristianis erogandum, &c. — lb., p. 464, A, B. 

Note 125. 
Precor, Domine, clementiae et misericordise tuae majestatem : ut fa- 
mulo tuo illi peccata et facinora sua confitenti veniam relaxare digne- 
ris, et praeteritorum criminum culpas indulgeas, qui humeris tuis ovem 
perditam reduxisti, qui Publicani precibus confessione placatus exau- 
disti. Tu etiam huic famulo tuo placare, Domine, tu ejus precibus 
benignus aspira, ut in confessione placabilis permaneat. Fletus ejus 
et petitio perpetuam clementiam tuam celeriter exoret, sanctisque al- 
taribus et sacrificiis restitutus, spei rursum aeternae cselestis glorias 
mancipetur. Per Dominum. — 16., E. 

Note 126. 

Item oratio manus impositionis. 

Domine Sancte, Pater Omnipotens, aeterne Deus, qui per Jesum 
Christum filium tuum Dominum nostrum vulnera nostra curare digna- 
tus es, te supplices rogamus, et petimus nos humiles tui sacerdotes ; 
ut precibus nostris aurem tuae pietatis inclinare digneris, remittasque 
omnia crimina, et peccata universa condones, desque huic famulo tuo 
pro suppliciis veniam, pro moerore laetitiam, pro morte vitam. Ipse 
caelestis apicis devolutus est, et de tua misericordia confidens ad bonam 
pacem praemii tui atque caelestia pervenire mereatur ad vitam aeter- 
nam. Per Dominum. — 16., p. 464-5. 

Note 127. 

Incipit reconciliatio panitentis. 

In primis dicit Psalmum L. cum Antiphona, Cor mundum. Deus, 
humani generis benignissime Conditor, et misericordissime Reformator, 
qui in reconciliatione lapsorum etiam me, qui misericordia tua primus 
indigeo, servire effectibus gratise tua3 per ministerium Sacerdotale vo- 
luisti, ut cessante merito supplicis, mirabilior fieret dementia Redem- 
toris. Per Dominum nostrum. 

Omnipotens Sempiterne Deus, confitenti tibi huic famulo tuo pro tua 
pietate peccata relaxa, ut non plus ei noceat conscientire reatus ad pa?- 
nam, quam indulgentia tuce pietatis ad veniam. Per Dominum. 



302 APPENDIX. 



Alia. 
Omnipotens et Misericors Deus, qui peccatorum indulgentiam in 
confessione celeri posuisti : succurrere lapsis, miserere confessis : ut 
quod delictorum catena constringit, magnitude- tuse pietatis absolvat. 
Per Dominum. — S. Greg. Mag., t. iii., p. 465. 

Note 128. 

Incipit Judicium pamitentis. 

Si quis Episcopus aut aliquis ordinatus, homicidium fecerit, . . . de- 
cern annos paeniteat, tres ex his in pane et aqua. Si laicus, tres an- 
nos poeniteat, unum ex his in pane et aqua, &c. — lb. 

Note 129. 
Omnes miserias meas coram Deo effundam, si forte ilia sua magna 
pietas moveat eum. Confitebor ei peccata mea, cui omnia nuda sunt 
et aperta ; quern fallere non possum, quia Sapientia est : nee effugere, 
quia ubique est. Audi ergo piissime Deus confessionem meam : et 
respice ad pietatem tuam, et fac mecum secundum misericordiam tu- 
am. — S. Bemardi de inter, domo., c. xxix., p. 255, I. 

Note 130. 

Quia miseratio Dei occulta est, sine intermissione flere necesse est. 

Soror charissima, audi beati Isidori verba : "Non oportet poenitentem 
de peccatis suis habere securitatem. Quare ? Quia securitas negli- 
gentiam parit, negligentia vero saepe hominem incautmn ad priora pec- 
cata reducit." — S. Bemardi ad Soror., Scrm. xxvii., p. 302, B. 

Note 131. 
Date nobis (inquiunt) de oleo vestro. Stulta petitio. Vix Justus sal- 
vabitur, et vix etiam Sanctis justitise suae oleum sufficit ad salutem, 
quanto minus et sibi et proximis ? Noe, Daniel et Job nee filium libe- 
rabunt, sed sicut anima quae peccaverit, ipsa morietur : sic anima quae 
justitiam fecerit, sola salvabitur. — S. Bemardi Serm. de sept. Grad. 
Con/., p. 399, G. 

Note 132. 
Ut qui in persecutionis infestatione supplantati ab adversario, vel 
lapsi fuissent, ac sacrificiis se illicitis maculassent, agerent diu pceni- 
tentiam plenam : et si periculum infirmitatis urgeret, pacem sub ictu 
mortis acciperent. Nee enim fas erat, aut permittebat paterna pietas 
et divina dementia, ecclesiam pulsantibus claudi, et dolentibus et de- 
precantibus spei salutaris subsidium denegari : ut de saeculo recedentes, 
sine communicatione et pace Domini dimitterentur, quando permiserit 
ipse, qui legem dedit, ut ligata in terris, etiam in ccelis ligata essent : 
solvi autem possint illic, quae hie prius in ecclesia solverentur. — Hard. 
Con., t. i., p. 134, E. 



APPENDIX. 303 



Note 133. 
De his qui praeter necessitatem praevaricati sunt, aut praeter abla- 
tionem facultatum, aut praeter periculum, vel aliquid hujusraodi, quod 
factum est sub tyrannide Lieinii : placuit Synodo, quamvis humanitate 
probentur indigni, tamen eis benevolentiam commodari. Quicumque 
ergo veraciter po3nitudineni gerunt, tribus annis fideles inter audientes 
habeantui-, et sex annis omni se contritione dejiciant, duobus autem an- 
nis sine oblatione populo in oratione communicent. — Hard. Con., t. i., 
p. 327, D ; Condi. Nic, Can. XI. 

Note 134. 
Ut clerici vel continentes, ad viduas vel virgines, nisi jussu vel per- 
raissu episcoporum et presbyterorum non accedant. Et hoc non soli 
faciant, sed cum conclericis, vel cum his, cum quibus episcopus jusse- 
rit vel presbyter : nee ipsi episcopi aut presbyteri soli habeant acces- 
sum ad hujusmodi feminas, sed aut ubi clerici praesentes sint, aut gra- 
ves aliqui Christiani. — Con., t. i., p. 963. 

Note 135. 
Ut pcenitentibus, secundum peccatorum differentiam, episcopi arbi- 
trio pcenitentiae tempora decernantur. — lb., p. 964. 

Note 136. 
Ut presbyter, inconsulto episcopo, non reconciliet pcenitentem, nisi 
absente episcopo, et necessitate cogente. Cujuscumque autem poeni- 
tentis publicum et evulgatissimum crimen est, quod universa ecclesia 
noverit, ante absidem manus ei imponatur. — lb. 

Note 137. 
Ut sacerdos poenitentiam imploranti absque personae acceptione, 
pcenitentiae leges injungat. — lb., Can. LXXIV., Cone. Carth. IV., 
Hard. Con., t. I, p. 983. 

Note 138. 

Is qui poenitentiam in infirmitate petit si continuo creditur mo- 

riturus, reconcilietur per manus impositionem, et infundatur ori ejus 
eucharistia. Si supervixerit .... subdatur statutis pcenitentiae legibus, 
quamdiu sacerdos, qui poenitentiam dedit, probaverit. — lb., Can. 
LXXVI. 

Note 139. 
Pcenitentes, qui in infirmitate viaticum eucharistiae acceperint, non 
se credant absolutos sine manus impositione, si supervixerint. — lb. 
Can. LXXVIII. 

Note 140. 
Item placuit, ut de poenitente non admittatur ad clerum, nisi tantum, 
si necessitas aut usus exegerit, inter ostiarios deputetur, vel inter lecto- 



304 APPENDIX. 

res, ita ut evangelia et apostolum non legat. . . . Poenitente vero dici- 
raus de eo, qui post baptismum, aut pro homicidio aut pro diversis cri- 
minibus gravissimisque peccatis, publicam paenitentiam gerens sub ci- 
licio, divino fuerit reconciliatus altari. — Condi., t. L, p. 990. 

Note 141. 
Poenitentiam agere juxta antiquam canonum constitutionem in pie- 
risque locis ab usu recessit, et neque excommunicandi neque reconcil- 
iandi, antiqui moris ordo servatur. — Condi. Cabilonense, c. xxv. ; Hard. 
Con., t. iv., p. 1036. 

Note 142. 
Non debere sanctimoniales in propriis mansionibus cum aliquibus 
masculis, clericis sive laicis, consanguineis sive extraneis, bibere sive 
comedere : . . . . Et cum nullo masculo eis colloquium habere liceat, 
nisi in auditorio, et ibi coram testibus. — lb., Can. LXL, Hard. Condi., 
t. iv., p. 1042. 

Note 143. 
Si propter officium cleric atus, aut vidua visitatur, aut virgo, nun- 
quam domum solus introeas, talesque habeto socios, quorum contuber- 
nio non infameris. . . . Solus cum sola secrete et absque arbitro vel tes- 
te, non sedeas. Si familiarius est aliquid loquendum, habet nutricem, 
majorem domus, virginem, viduam, maritatam ; non est tarn inhumana, 
ut nullum preeter te habeat cui se audeat credere. Cavete omnes sus- 
piciones ; et quidquid probabiliter fingi potest, ne fingatur, ante devita. 
— Con. Aquisgranense, Hard. Con., t. iv., p. 1107. 

Note 144. 
Presbyteris, qui in monasteriis puellaribus Missarum solemnia cele- 
brare debent, extra monasterium sit locus et ecclesia, ubi cum minis- 
tris suis habitent, et divinae servitutis obsequium expleant : et non nisi 
statuto tempore monasterium ingrediantur puellarum, et cum eis dia- 
conus tantum, et subdiaconus, qui scilicet et vitae honestate clarescant, 
et non se, sed Christum amare cupiant ; nee sua quaerant, sed quae 
Jesu Christi ; et non amplius ibi immorentur, nisi in Missarum cele- 
brationibus ad sanctimoniales publice faciendis. Quibus rite ac devote 
celebratis, illico foras egrediantur. . . . Sed et hoc caveant, ut nulla ilia- 
rum cum eisdem presbyteris, eorumque ministris aliquam sermocinatio- 
nem familiarem habeant. Si qua igitur peccata sua sacerdoti confiten 
voluerit, id in Ecclesia faciat, ut ab aliis videatur, sicut in dictis sancto- 
rum patrum continetur : exceptis infirmis, quibus in domibus id facere 
necesse est. Nam presbyter diaconum et subdiaconum, qui utique 
boni sint testimonii, ob detractionem vitandam secum habeat, a quibus 
scilicet videatur, et suae innocentiae bonum testimonium exhibeatur. — 
Condi. Aquisgran., Lib. 2, Can. XXVII., Hard. Con., t. iv., p. 1175. 

Note 145. 
Ut episcopus monasteria monachorum et sanctimonialium frequenter 



APPENDIX. 305 

introeat, et cum gravibus et religiosis personis, et in eorum vel in ea- 
rum conventu residens, eorum vitam et conversationem diligenter dis- 
cutiat ; et si quid reprehensibile invenerit, corrigere satagat. Sancti- 
monialium etiam pudicitiam subtiliter investiget. Et si aliqua inveni- 
tur, qua? neglecto proposito castitatis, clerico aut laico impudenter mis- 
ceatur, in privata custodia retrudatur, ubi quod male commisit digne 
posniteat. Interdicat etiam ex auctoritate sanctorum canonum, ut nul- 
]us laicus aut clericus in earum claustris et secretis habitationibus ac- 
cessum habeat ; neque presbyteri, nisi tantum ad Missam ; expleta 
Missa ad Ecclesias suas r-edeant. — Synodus General. Rodomi, c. x., 
Hard. Con., t. vi., Pars 1, p. 206. 

Note 146. 
Nee presbyter solus cum sola femina fabulas misceat. . . . Nos vero 
etiam a matribus, amitis, sororibus, vel propinquis cavendum dicimus : 
ne forte illud eveniat quod in sancta scriptura legitur de Thamar sorore 
Absalom, quam Amnon frater suus male concupiscendo violavit ; de 
Lot etiam, qui Alias suas per ebrietatis vitium, similiter corrupit. — 
Hard. Con., t. vi., Pars 1, p. 417, c. xiv. 

Note 147. 

De Confessions 

I. 

Quando aliquis voluerit confessionem facere peccatorum suorum, 

viriliter agat, et non erubescat confiteri scelera et facinora, se accu- 

sando : quia inde venit indulgentia, et quia sine confession e nulla est 

venia: confessio enim sanat, confessio justificat. — Hard. Con., t. vi., 

Pars 1, p. 664. 

Note 148. 
Interroga ipsum de sui ipsius moribus : extorque scelera, et quae fe- 
cit propone omnia : sed hoc tecum semper recognoscens, ut uno et eo- 
dem modo nunquam judicabis divites et pauperes, liberos et servos, 
seniores et juvenes, firmos et infirmos, humiles et superbos, fortes et 
debiles, ordinatos et sseculares. Judex prudens prudenter distinguet 
de facto ; quod videlicet, quomodo, ubi, et quando sit perpetratum. 
Quanto etiam quis potentior est, et majoris dignitatis, tanto gravius pro 
peccatis coram Deo et hominibus corrigendus est. . . . — lb. 

Note 149. 
V. 
Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti, et confessario meo spirituali medico, om- 
nia peccata quae malorum spirituum inquinamento unquam perpetravi ; 
sive in facto, sive in cogitatione, sive cum masculis, sive cum feminis, 
aliave creatura, sive secundum naturam, sive contra naturam. 

VI. 
Confiteor ingluviem ciborum, et mane et vesperi. Confiteor omni- 



308 APPENDIX. 

modam avaritiam, et invidiam, et detrectationem, et bilingue vitium, 
mendacitatem, et inanem jactantiam, et vaniloquium, prodigalitatera 
impiam, et cujusque generis fastum, qui effrenato huic corpori meo ali- 
qualiter accident. Confiteor me frequentius fuisse peccati auctorem, 
peccati fautorem, peccati conscium, et peccati doctorem. 

VII. 
Confiteor animo meo perpetratum homicidium, perjuriam, seditio- 
nem, superbiam, et neglectum prseceptorum Dei. Confiteor omnia quae 
cculis unquam viderim, vel concupiscendo, vel vituperando indebite : 
etiam omnia quas vel auribus audiverim vana et superflua, vel ore meo 
locutus fuerim. 

VIII. 

Confiteor etiam corporis mei peccata omnia, cutis, carnis, ossium et 
nervorum, renum et cartilaginum, linguae et labiorum, faucium, den- 
tium, et csesariei, medullas, et rei cujusque alterius, quae vel mollis est 
vel dura, humida vel sicca. Confiteor baptismum meum me pejus ob- 
servasse, quam Domino meo sum pollicitus, professionemque qua tene- 
bar in Dei et sanctorum suorum laudem custodire, et in mei ipsius sa- 
lutem aeternam. Confiteor me horas meas canonicas saepius neglexisse, 
saepiusque pejerans Domini vitam et nomen ejus in vanum accepisse. 

IX. 
Rogo et obtestor Dominum meum pro his omnibus remissionem, ut 
in me nunquam ex insidiis prasvaleat diabolus, ne forte moriar absque 
confessione, et peccatorum meorum emendatione : sicut hodie confessus 
sum omnia mea peccata coram Domino nostro Salvatore Christo, qui 
caelum et terram moderatur, et coram sacro isto altari, et reliquiis tes- 
tis, et coram confessario meo et Domini Missali sacerdote : et sicut 
puram edidi et veracem confessionem, et prompti sum animi corrigere 
omnia peccata mea, et qua possim sedulitate ea semper postea decli- 
nare. 

X. 

Et tu, Jesu Christe Salvator mi, miserere animae meae, et remitte, 
precor, deletoque peccata mea et transgressiones meas, quae vel olim 
vel recentius unquam perpetravi; et ducas me in sublime regnum tuum, 
ut illic verser cum electis et Sanctis tuis absque fine et in seternum. 
Nunc et te humiliter obsecro, sacerdos Domini, ut tu mihi testis sis in 
die judicii, ut nullam in me habeat diabolus, et ut tu apud Dominum 
mihi sis causidicus : ut peccata mea et transgressiones commissas cor- 
rigam, et ab ejusmodi aliis committendis desistam. Ad hoc praestan- 
dum adjuvet me Dominus ille, qui vivit et regnat absque termino in 
ssternum. Amen. — -Hard. Con., t. vi., Pars 1, p. 665-6. 

Note 150. 
VI. 
Si laicus alium sine causa occiderit, pane et aqua septem jejunet an- 



APPENDIX. 307 

nos, et eorundem quatuor prout confessarius suus instituerit. Emensa 
vero septennali ilia poenitentia, scelus tamen semper lugeat omni qua 
poterit industria; propterea quod incognitum est hominibus qualiter 
apud Deum valuit ejus po3nitentia. 

VII. 
Qui alteram voluerat occidisse, et implere nequierat desiderium, an- 
nos tres jejunet : unum scilicet pane et aqua, eorumque duas prout con- 
fessarius suus ipsi imposuerit. 

VIII. 

Si laicus alium invitus occiderit, tres annos jejunato, unum pane et 
aqua, et eorum duos ut confessarius ejus indicaverit, et transgressiones 
suas semper deplorato. 

IX. 

Si fuerit Subdiaconus, jejunet sex annos. 
Si fuerit Diaconus, jejunet septem annos. 

Si fuerit Missalis sacerdos, jejunet decern annos : et Episcopus duo- 
decim annos ; et semper lugeat, &c. — Ib. : p. 667. 

Note 151. 
I. 
In hoc confessionis genere valde conduxerit ad peccati expiationem 
theologi alicujus auxilium, non minus quam in morbi curatione docti 
cujuspiam medici consilium. 

II. 
Saepe peccant homines e propria ipsorum concupiscentia, nee raro 
per diaboli instigationem. Illud vero formadibile est, quod ecclesias- 
tici toties in Deum peccantes, ordinis sui amittunt dignitatem. 

III. 
Ad hoc corrigendum, opus est rigida pcBnitentia; semper tamen 
juxta modum ordinis et peccati, ut in canonibus est sancitum. Et de- 
bet quilibet hanc ambire totis suis viribus et conatu, intimi etiam cor- 
dis ipsius anxietate. Alii paenitentiam subeant unius anni, alii pluri- 
um, sed pro modo semper delictorum. Alii mensis unius, alii plurium 
mensium, alii unius septimanse, alii plurium septimanarum, alii unius 
diei, et alii plurium dierum, et alii quidem omnium dierum totius vitae 
ipsorum. — lb., 670-1. 

Note 152. 
XIII. 
Peccatorum apud Deum compositiones fiunt variis modis, et ad eo- 
rum solutionem plurimum conducunt eleemosynae. 

XIV. 
Cui ad hoc facultas suppetat, ecclesias redificet in laudem Dei ; et 



308 APPENDIX. 

si prseterea valeat, adjiciat prsedia. et introducat juvenes qui pro ipso 
sacrum prsestent servitium, et quotidie Deo celebrent mysteria. . . . — lb. 

Note 153. 
Distribuat scilicet ob amorem Dei omnia quae habet, deserat cum 
eisdem terras, patriam, et mundi hujus omnia desiderabilia, et Domino 
suo noctes diesque serviat, &c. — lb., p. 671-2. 

Note 154. 
Hie in sequentibus dicetur, quonam modo aBgrotus quis posset in- 
dictum jejunium redimere. 

XVIII. 
Quisquis poterit unius diei jejunium unico denario redimere. Potest 
etiam unusquisque unius diei jejunium ducentis et viginti psalmis redi- 
mere. Potest etiam quisque duodecim mensium jejunium triginta so- 
lidis redimere : vel unum aliquem liberando tanti sestimatum : et pro 
unius diei jejunio decantet vir ille senis vicibus, Beati : et senis vicibus, 
Pater noster. Et pro unius diei jejunio genuflectat homo ille, et ad 
terram se inclinet sexaginta vicibus, dicens, Pater noster, &c. — lb., 
p. 672-3. 

Note 155. 
XIX. 

Septenne jejunium potest quis in anno uno absolvere, si quotidie 
cantaverit psalterii psalmos, itidemque nocte, et quinquaginta vespere. 
Unica etiam Missa potest quis absolvere duodecim dierum jejunium : 
et cum triginta Missis potest quis eximere totius anni jejunium, si vo- 
luerit ex vero Dei amore pro seipso intercedere, et peccata sua suo 
confiteri confessario, eademque prout is edixerit emendare, et semper 
postea declinare. — lb. 

Note 156. 
De Magnatum poenitentia. 
I. 
Hoc modo potest vir illustris, et amicis fretus, amicorum ope lenio- 
rem reddere suam pcenitentiam. Primum in Dei nomine et confessarii 
sui testimonio, manifestet fidem suam rectam esse : et condonet omni- 
bus qui in eum quid peccaverint, et faciat confessionem suam absque 
omni omissione peccatorum, polliceaturque resipiscentiam, et suscipiat 
paenitentiani cum multo gemitu. 

II. 

Deponat tunc arma sua, &c. Paret se per triduum hunc in modum; 
sumatque sibi in auxilium duodecim socios : jejunent tres dies pane, et 
crudis oleribus, et aqua : et acquirat prseterea quaque poterit, ad opus 
consummandum, septies centum viginti homines, qui jejunent singuli 
illius gratia totum triduum, tres videlicet quisque dies. Sic accrescet 



APPENDIX. 309 

horam jejuniorum numerus ad tot jejunia, quot sunt dies in toto sep- 
tennio. 

HI. 

Cum quis jejunaverit, distribuat fercula, seu eduliorum praeparatio- 
nes, quibus ipse frueretur, omnibus Dei pauperibus : et in tribus illis 
die-bus sui jejunii seponat mundana quaecumque negotia ; dieque et 
nocte quoties poterit, ecclesiam petat, et eleemosynario lumine ibidem 
vigilato solicite, et clamet ad Deum, peccatorumque exoret remissio- 
nem lugenti animo et genibus innixus. Saepe etiam se extendat super 
signum crucis, nunc erectus, nunc in terram prostratus. Discat etiam 
vir quisque potens lacrymas ab oculis suis sincere fundere, et peccata 
sua deplorare. Pascat etiam in triduo illo tot egenos, quotquot pror- 
sus valeat. Quarto autem die lavet omnes, ciboque donet et pecunia. 
Quin et ipse qui hanc agit paenitentiam, pedum eorum incumbat lotio- 
ni : celebrenturque ea die pro eodem poenitente tot missas, quot ulla 
industria comparare quisquam poterit, et missarum earum tempore 
exbibeatur illi absolutio : et jam turn suscipiat eucharistiam, nisi quod 
ex nimio reatu suo adeo impeditus sit, ut hanc adhuc non accipiat. 
Spondeat tamen se in posterum Dei, quantum poterit, semper opera- 
turum voluntatem ; omnem injustitiam; auxiliante Deo, usque vixerit, 
declinaturum ; ita ut perpetuo et prsecipue Christianitatem recte teneat, 
et gentilismum omnino explodat. 

IV. 
Ha3c est magnatum, et eorum qui amicorum fruuntur multitudine, 
sed non datur inopi sic procedere. Oportet igitur a seipso fortius hanc 
exigere : et illud quidem est aequissimum, ut unusquisque suas per se 
luat iniquitates, correctionemque subeat studiose. Scriptum est enim, 
Quia unusquisque onus suum portabit. — Hard. Con. Gen., t. vi., P. 1, 
p. 673-4. 

Note 157. 
Canon XXI. 

De confessione facienda, et non revelanda a sacerdote : et saltern in 
Pascha communicando. 

Omnis utriusque sexus fidelis, postquam ad annos discretionis per- 
venerit, omnia sua solus peccata confiteatur fideliter, saltern semel in 
anno, proprio sacerdoti : et injunctam sibi paenitentiam studeat pro vi- 
ribus adimplere, suscipiens reverenter ad minus in pascha eucharistiae 
sacramentum : nisi forte de consilio proprii sacerdotis, ob aliquam ra- 
tionabilem causam ad tempus ab ejus perceptione duxerit abstinendum : 
alioquin et vivens ab ingressu ecclesiae arceatur, et moriens Christiana 
careat sepultura. Unde hoc salutare statutum frequenter in Ecclesiis 
publicetur, ne quisquam ignorantise cascitate velamen excusationis as- 
sumat. Si quis autem alieno sacerdoti voluerit justa de causa sua 
confiteri peccata, licentiam prius postulet et obtineat a proprio sacer- 
dote, cum aliter ille ipse non possit solvere, vel ligare. — Hard. Con., 
t. vii., p. 35. 



310 APPENDIX. 

Note 158. 

Sacerdos autem sit discretus et cautus, ut more periti medici super- 
infundat vinum et oleum vulneribus sauciati : diligenter inqiiirens et 
peccatoris cireumstantias et peccati, per quas prudenter intelligat quale 
illi consilium debeat exhibere, et cujusmodi remedium adhibere, diver- 
sis experimentis utendo ad sanandum segrotum. 

Caveat autem omnino, ne verbo, vel signo, vel alio quovismodo pro- 
dat aliquatenus peccatorem : sed si prudentiori consilio indiguerit, il- 
lud absque ulla expressione personae caute requirat : quoniam qui pec- 
catum in pcenitentiali judicio sibi detectum prsesumpserit revelare, non 
solum a sacerdotali officio deponendum decernimus : verum etiam ad 
agendam perpetuam poenitentiam, in arctum monasterium detruden- 
dum. — lb. 

Note 159. 
Canon XXII. 

Quod infirmi prius provideant animce, quam corpori. 

Cum infirmitas corporalis nonnunquam ex peccato proveniat, .... 
decreto prsesenti statuimus, et districte prsecipimus medicis corporum, 
ut cum eos ad infirmos vocari contigerit, ipsos ante omnia moneant et 
inducant, quod medicos advocent animarum : ut postquam inflrmis fue- 
rit de spiritali salute provisum, ad corporalis medicinae remedium sa- 
lubrius procedatur, cum causa cessante cesset effectus 

Si quis autem medicorum, hujus nostrae constitutionis, postquam per 
praelatos locorum fuerit publicata, transgressor exstiterit, tamdiu ab in- 
gressu ecclesiae arceatur, donee pro transgressione hujusmodi satisfece- 
rit competenter. — lb. 

Note 160. 
Intercessit olim controversia inter S. Thomam et quemdam doctorem 
de absolutionis forma : hoc asserente earn esse deprecatoriam : Et quod 
vix triginta anni essent, quod omnes hac sola forma utebantur : jibso- 
lutionem et remissionem tribuat tibi Omnipotens Deus : illo contra con- 
tendere formam absolutionis esse enuntiativam seu indicativam per 
haec verba. Ego te absolvo, &c, quas judiciariam Sacerdotis potestatem 
indicant. — S. Greg. Mag., t. iii., p. 459, D, E. 

Note 161. 

Utrum poenitentia sit sacramentum. 

Videtur quod poenitentia non sit sacramentum. Greg, enim dicit, 
et habetur in Decret. 1, q. 1. Sacramenla sunt baptismus, chrisma, 
corpus et sanguis Christi : quce ob id sacramenta dicuntur, quia sub teg- 
umento corporalium rerum divina virtus secretius operatur salutem in 
eis. Sed hoc non contingit in poenitentia : quia non adhibentur aliquae 
corporales res sub quibus divina virtus operetur salutem. Ergo poe- 
nitentia non est sacramentum. 

Sed contra est, quod sicut baptismus adhibetur ad purificandum a 
peccato, ita et poanitentia. Unde et Petrus dixit Simoni, Act. 8. Pes- 



APPENDIX. 311 

nitentiam age ab hac nequitia tua. Sed baptismus est sacramentura, 
ut supra habitum est. Ergo pari ratione et poenitentia. — S. Th. Jlquin. 
Stmima, P. 3, Q. LXXXIV., Art. i. 

Note 162. 

Utrum hcec sit forma hujus sacramenti, Ego te absolvo. 

Ad Tertium sic proceditur. Videtur, quod haec non sit forma hujus 
sacramenti, Ego te absolvo. Formae enim sacramentorum ex institu- 
tion Christi et Ecclesiae usu habentur. Sed Christus non legitur hanc 
formam instituisse, neque etiam in communi usu habetur ; quinimo in 
quibusdam absolutionibus, quae in Eeclesia publice fiunt (sicut in Pri- 
ma et completorio, et in coena Domini), absolvens non utitur oratione 
indicativa, ut dicat, Ego vos absolvo, sed oratione deprecativa, cum di- 
cit, Misereatur vestri Omnipotens Deus, vel Absolutionem et remissionem 
tribuat vobis Omnipotens Deus. Ergo haec non est forma hujus sacra- 
menti, Ego te absolvo. 

Sed contra est, quod sicut Dominus dixit discipulis Matth. ultim. 
Euntes docete omnes gentes, baptizantes eos : ita dixit Petro, Matth. 16. 
Quodcunque solveris super terram. Sed sacerdos auctoritate illorum 
verborum Christi fretus dicit, Ego te baptizo. Ergo eadem auctoritate 
dicere debet in hoc sacramento, Ego te absolvo. 

Conclusio. 
Nulla magis est conveniens sacramenti pcenitentiae forma, quam haec 
verba, Ego te absolvo, cum id aptissime significent quod in sacramento 
agitur. — lb., Art. iii. 

Note 163. 
Graeci in absolutione a peccatis utuntur multis formulis deprecato- 
riis, quas videre est in eorum Euchologio ; cum tamen prius faciant 
mentionem potestatis absolvendi sibi divinitus concessae : " Tu, Domine, 
per sanctos Apostolos tuos donasti iis, qui in sancta Eeclesia succes- 
sive per tempora sacerdotali funguntur officio, facultatem in terris di- 
mittendi peccata, ligandi atque solvendi orane vinculum injustitiae , ob- 
secramus itaque, pro Fratre nostro N. qui coram te adstat, tribue ei 
tuam misericordiam, disrumpens vinculum peccatorum." — S. Greg. 
Mag., t. iii., p. 460, B. 

Note 164. 

Quod clerici non teneant publice concubinas. 

Addentes, ne clerici beneficiati, vel in sacris ordinibus constituti, in 
hospitiis suis tenere publice concubinas praesumant, nee alibi cum scan- 
dalo accessum habeant ad easdem. — Hard. Concil., t. vii. 3 p. 122. 

Note 165. 

Canon II. 

De poznis concubinariorum clericorum. 

Si quis autem clericorum deinceps faerit deprehensus Jncontinentias 
vitio laborare, detinendo publice concubinam, nisi post admonitionem 



312 APPENDIX. 

eanonicam illam a se prorsus expulerit, extunc tam benefioio quam et 
officio spolietur. Si vero nee sic foetorem suae libidinis curaverit evi- 
tare, quia crescente contumacia crescere debet et poena, anathematis 
sententia feriatur. — lb. 

Note 166. 
Canon V. 

Clericos fructus prcebendarum suarum concubinis et spuriis suis re- 
linquere non posse. 

Ad abolendam de domo Domini consuetudinem, vel potius corrupte- 
lam seu temeritatem, qua clerici (qui signum pudicitiae debent osten- 
dere laicis, quibus positi sunt in exemplum) in argumentum finalis 
suse impoenitentiae, fructus praebendarum suarum concubinis vel spuriis 
suis legant in ultima voluntate, contra eos rigor ecclesiasticus exerceri 
debet.— lb., t. vii., p. 138-9. 

Note 167. 

Circa confessionem hoc modo procedatur. Dicatur confitenti quod 
tria sunt praecipue, quae solent impedire homines veram facere confes- 
sionem : delectatio, et timor pcenitentiae injungendae, et pudor. . . . 
Auditis omnibus debet quaerere ab eo, si plura redeunt ad memoriam. 
Si dicit quod sic : dicat ergo. Si dicit quod non : tunc debet sacerdos 
supplere defectum confitentis : juxta quod scriptum est, Justus prior 
accusator est sui. Venit amicus ejus, et investigabit eum. Justus, id 
est, confitens, primo debet accusare seipsum. Postea amicus ejus, id 
est, sacerdos, debet investigare peccata quae omisit. . . . 

A laicis generaliter quaerendum est de decimis. ... Si vero fuerit 
solutus, sive conjugatus : quasrendum est de septem criminalibus pec- 
catis. . . . 

Circa mulieres, maxim e de veneficiis et sortilegiis. Circa solutas 
quasrendum est si velint vivere continenter, quousque conjugatas : alio- 
quin non valet confessio. Et similiter quaerendum est a conjugatis de 
peccatis carnis quae commiserint ante matrimonium : et dicendum est 
de illis, quod secundum debitum naturae debent propriis uti uxoribus, 
alioquin peccant in matrimonio. Circa lubricum carnis hoc modo bre- 
viter fiat inquisitio. ... 

Item quaerendum est de numero personarum, et de vicibus, si habe- 
antur in memoria. Item si cum viduis, quae sunt ecclesiaticae perso- 
nae. Si cum virginibus, si cum conjugatis, si cum monialibus. . . . 
Item si ad consanguineas vel affines, quaeratur in quo gradu, in remoto 
vel propinquo. Si in puerperio, vel in menstruo sanguine, ubi est pe- 
riculum propter prolem, quia ex corrupto semine nascitur corruptus 
foetus. Item si cum muliere propinqua partui, quia tunc est pericu- 
lum : posset enim partus interfici. 

Item, si cum masculis, si cum jumentis. Et haec poenitentia injun- 
gatur : quia cum jumentis, praeter alia quae debent injungi, quod nun- 
quam edant de carne ilia. Et ut breviter concludam : A quocumque 
modo semen emittitur, non dormiendo, nisi cum propria uxore, et hoc 
fiat legitime secundum exigentiam naturae, mortale peccatum est : et 



APPENDIX. 313 

secundum diversitates circumstantiarum, diversae sunt injungendae poB- 
nitentiae. — lb., p. 283-4. 

Note 168. 
Quaeratur circa peccatum luxuriae, utrum pcenitens ad praegnantes 
mulieres accesserit, seu viduas, vel alias : et quaeratur numerus illarura 
cum quibus peccavit. Et si nescit numerum, saltern aestimatione di- 
cat quod credit. Quaeratur etiam quanto tempore in peccato perman- 
serit, in quo loco, sacro vel non sacro. — 16., p. 480 ; Concil. de Copri- 
niaco. Can. XXXIK 

Note 169. 

Circa peccatum luxuriae, quaeratur de personis, utrum sacerdos, 

vel diaconus, vel subdiaconus, vel monachus. De tempore, utrum in 
solemnitatibus perpetuis. . . . Et si solutus laicus cum soluta concubue- 
rit, tres annos pcenitentise debet secundum canonum rigorem, secunda 
feria, quarta et sexta, a cibis communibus jejunando abstinere. Si 
cum vidua, quatuor annos. Sed quia fragilitas nostri temporis tanti 
rigoris non patitur manere censivum, hujusmodi poenam commutent vel 
temperent sacerdotes in orationibus vel eleemosynis, vel aliis satisfac- 
tionibus, prout eis visum fuerit expedire. — lb., t. vii., p. 596. 

Note 170. 

Praecipimus, ut sacerdotes parochialium ecclesiarum subditos suos 
frequenter admoneant, et etiam poenitentiam injungant, ut ad confes- 
sionem saepe veniant. Et priusquam veniant ad confessionem diligen- 
ter scrutentur corda sua, confiteri volentes, et peccata sua solicite re- 
memorent : et cum dolore et vultu supplici ad confitendum accedant, 
quasi ad Dei judicium. Sacerdotes autem, ut Dei ministri, circa con- 
fessionem audiendam, et poenitentiam injungendam, maximam adhibe- 
ant diligentiam, ut attente, diligenter, et cum modestia, audiant confi- 
tentem. 

Item ad confessionem audiendam, communem et aptum locum in 
Ecclesia, ut ab omnibus videri possint, sibi eligant sacerdotes. In lo- 
cis autem obscuris et tenebrosis confessiones non audiant, nee extra 
ecclesiam, nisi in magna necessitate vel infirmitate. . . . 

Item praecipimus, sub poena excommunicationis, ut sacerdotes in au- 
diendis confessionibus vultum humilem habeant, et oculos ad terrain : 
nee faciem respiciant confitentis, et maxime mulierum. . . . 

Item sub poena excommunicationis praecipimus, ne aliquis sacerdos 
audiat confessionem mulieris cum qua peccavit; nee etiam consocias 
aut fautores, aut mediatores peccati sui, sed mittat eos vel eas ad ho- 
nestos et discretos confessores. 

.... est sacer ordo, sacer locus circa peccatum luxuriae et concupis- 
centiae, quae omnia notantur in hoc versu : 

Quis, quid, ubi, cum quo, quoties, cur, quomodo, quando. 

.... Item nullus sacerdos in ira, odio, vel etiam metu corporis, con- 
fessionem confitentis audeat revelare verbo vel signo, generaliter vel 
spccialiter, dicendo : Ego scio te talem qualis es. Et si revelaverit ali- 

O 



314 APPENDIX. 

quo modo, de hoc convictus, debet absque omni misericordia degradari. 
Si tamen indigeat consilio, illud (ut dictum est) sine expressione per- 
sonse caute requirat. 

.... Si quis autem proprio sacerdoti parochiali ad minus semel in 
anno plene et integre confessus non fuerit, praecipimus quod sacerdos 
in Pascha ei sacramentum minime administret. 

Item sacerdotes diligenter attendant, qui parochiani eorum, saltern 
in anno semel ad confessionem non veniant ; et nomina illorum ad nos 
vel ad Officialem nostrum, seu ad Ordinarium loci referant, ut debite 
puniantur ; ne ab ipsis sacerdotibus notam negligentiae requiramus. — 
lb., t. vii., p. 826-7-8. 

Note 171. 

Summula, seu modus exigendi confessiones, pmnitentiasque injungendi, 
ab eodem R. P. Petro episcopo Exoniensi, sacerdotibus sua dmcesis ad 
observandum impositus in Synodo Exoniensi. 

.... Haec ergo ego Petrus Exoniensis intime considerans, et insuffi- 
centiae presbyterorum sacrorum confessiones audientium compatiens, 
quorum ignorantiam, proh dolor ! ssspissime sum expertus, praesentem 
suimnulam eisdern assigno, ut earn sciant ad utilitatem suam et confi- 
tentium. 

.... Contra spiritus peccata, injungenda sunt maxime oratio, hmnil- 
itas, mansuetudo, et similia. Contra gulam et luxuriam, et cupidita- 
tem, et avaritiam, injungenda sunt flagella corporis, jejunia, disciplin33 
et peregrinationes. — Ib. y p. 1124-7. 

Note 172. 
Cap. XIII. 

Ut singuli ter in anno confiteantur et communicent : alioqui suspeeti 
de hceresi habeantur. 

Omnes autem utriusque sexus, postquam ad annos discretionis ad- 
venerint, confessionem peccatorum faciant per ter in anno proprio sa- 
cerdoti, vel alii de voluntate ipsius, vel mandato, injunctam poaniten- 
tiam et humiliter et pro viribus impleturi : et ter in anno, in Natali 
Domini, Pascha, et Pentecoste, sacramentum Eucharistiae cum omni 
reverentia suscepturi : ita quod confessio communionem praecedat : nisi 
forte, ob aHquam causam rationabilem, ad tempus ab ejus participa- 
tione abstinuerint, de consilio proprii sacerdotis. Soliciti sint itaque 
presbyteri circa ista : ut ex nominmn inspectione cognoscant, sicut su- 
perius est expression, utrum sint aliqui qui communicare subterfugi- 
ant. Nam si quis a communione, nisi de consilio proprii sacerdotis, 
abstinuerit, suspectus de haeresi habeatur. 

XIV. 

Ne laid habeant libros Scriptures, prater psalterium, et divinum offi- 
cium : at eos libros ne habeant in vulgari lingua. 

Prohibemus etiam, ne libros veteris testamenti, aut novi^ la'ici per- 
mittantur habere : nisi forte psalterium, vel bre\-iarium pro divinis of. 
ficiis, aut horas beatas Mans, aliquis ex devotione habere veiit-. Sec] 



APPENDIX. 315 

ne praemissos libros habeant in vulgari translatos, arctissime inhibemus 
—16., p. 178. 

Note 173. 
Sessio XIV., Cap. III., A.D. 1551. 
Docet praeterea sancta synodus, sacramenti Po3nitentise formam, in 
qua praecipue ipsius vis sita est, in illis ministri verbis positam esse, 
Ego te absolvo, &c. Quibus quidem de ecclesiae sanctae more preces 
quaedam laudabiliter adjunguntur : ad ipsius tamen formae essentiam 
nequaquam spectant, neque ad ipsius sacramenti administrationem 
sunt necessariae. Sunt autem quasi materia hujus sacramenti, ipsius 
poenitentis actus, nempe contritio, confessio, et satisfactio ; qui, quate- 
nus in poenitente ad integritatem sacramenti, ad plenam et perfectam 
peccatormn remissionem ex Dei institutione requiruntur, hac ratione 
partes poenitentiae dicuntur. Sane vero res et effectus hujus sacra- 
menti, quantum ad ejus vim et efficaciam pertinet, reconciliatio est 
cum Deo, &c. — lb., t. x., p. 91. 

Note 174. 

Cap. IV. 

De Contritione. 

Etsi contritionem hanc aliquando caritate perfectam esse con- 

tingat, hominemque Deo reconciliare, priusquam hoc sacramentum 
actu suscipiatur; ipsam nihilominus reconciliationem ipsi contritioni 
sine sacramenti voto, quod in ilia concluditur, non esse adscribendam. 
Illam vero contritionem imperfectam, quae attritio dicitur, quoniam vel 
ex turpitudinis peccati consideratione, vel ex gehennae, et paenaruni 
metu communiter concipitur, si voluntatem peccandi excludat, cum 
spe venias, declarat non solum non facere hominem hypocritam, et ma- 
gis peccatorem, verum etiam donum Dei esse, et Spiritus Sancti im- 
pulsum, non adhuc quidem inhabitantis, sed tantum moventis, quo poe- 
nitens adjutus viam sibi ad justitiam parat. Et quamvis sine Sacra- 
mento Poenitentiae per se ad justificationem perducere peccatorem ne- 
queat, tamen eum ad Dei gratiam in sacramento Poenitentiae impe- 
trandam disponit, &c. — lb., p. 91-2. 

Note 175. 

Cap. V. 

De Confessione. 

Ex institutione sacramenti Poenitentiae jam explicata, uni versa ec- 

clesia semper intellexit, institutam etiam a Domino integram peccato- 

rum confessionem, et omnibus post baptismum lapsis jure divino neces- 

sariam exsistere : quia Dominus noster Jesus Christus, e terris ascen- 

surus ad cselos, sacerdotes sui ipsius vicarios reliquit, tamquam praesi- 

des et judices, ad quos omnia mortalia crimina deferantur, in quae 

Christi fideles ceciderint ; quo pro potestate clavium remissionis aut 

retentionis peccatorum sententiam pronuntient. Constat enim sacer- 



316 



APPENDIX. 



dotes judicium hoc incognita causa exercere non potuisse ; neque sequi- 
tatem quidem illos in pcenis injungendis servare potuisse, si in genere 
dumtaxat, et non potius in specie ac sigillatim sua ipsi peccata decla- 
rassent. Ex his eolligitur, oportere a po3nitentibus omnia peccata 
mortalia, quorum, post diligentem sui discussionem, conscientiam ha- 
bent, in confessione recenseri ; etiam occultissima ilia sint, et tantum 
adversus duo ultima decalogi praecepta commissa ; quas nonnunquam 
animum gravius sauciant, et periculosiora sunt iis quse in manifesto 
admittuntur, &c. — lb., p. 92. 

Note 176. 

In iis probandis, hanc rationem habeant Episcopi, ut pii, bene mo- 
rati, docti, prudentes, patientes, de animarum salute soliciti, et fideles 
custodes sint eorum quae in confessione dicuntur ; provecta etiam aetate, 
prsesertim illi, quibus confessiones muherum erunt audiendse. 

Sacerdotes, nisi ex causa necessaria, mulieres ante solis ortum, vel 
post ejus occasum, confitentes ne audiant. Neve in cellis, sed publice 
in Ecclesia, in sedibus, in quibus tabella omnino inter confitentem et 
confessorem interjecta sit. Hujusmodi autem sedes in ecclesiis ab iis, 
ad quos pertinent, constituendas episcopi quamprimum curabunt. — lb., 
p. 653. 

Note 177. 
Nee sine causa necessaria in privatis sedibus cujusquam maris vel 
feminse confessionem audiant. — lb. 

Note 178. 
Confessores canones paenitentiales bene noverint : et de poenitentia, 
quam cuique peccato prsescripserunt, confitentes admoneant : ut tanto 
diligentius a peccatis cavere studeant, quanto in paenitentiis canonum 
mitigandis benigniorem in se ecclesiam experiuntur. — lb., p. 655. 

Note 179. 
Iidem, quemadmodum a sancta Tridentina synodo jussum est, pub- 
lice peccantibus publicam posnitentiam imponant : neque illud publican 
pcenitentias genus, nisi data ab episcopo facilitate, secreta alia poena 
commutare audeant. — lb. 

Note 180. 
II est ordonne aux clercs de se confesser a l'eveque deux fois l'an- 
nee : savoir, au commencement du careme, et depuis la mi-Aout jus- 
qu'au premier jour de Novembre. Sauf a se confesser dans les autres 
tems, toutes les fois qu'ils voudront, soit a l'eveque, soit a un pretre 
depute de sa part. Celui qui aura cele quelque peche en se confes- 
sant a l'eveque, ou cherchera a se confesser a d'autres ; si l'eveque le 
peut decouvrir, il le punira de fouet ou de prison. C'est la premiere 
fois que JE trouve la confession commandee. — Fleury, Histoire 
Ecclesiastique, t. ix., p. 390, ed. of 1758. 



AfPENDIX. 317 



Note 181. 
Comme divers aceidens nous empechent d'observer pleinement les 
canons touchant la reconciliation des penitens : chaque pretre aussi-tot 
qu'il aura re9u leur confession, aura soin de les reconcilier par la priere. 
C'est a dire, qu'il n'attendra pas que la penitence soit accomplie. — 16., 
p. 359. 

Note 182. 
L 'usage de la penitence suivant les anciens canons est aboli en la 
plupart des lieux ; c'est pourquoi il faut implorer le secours de l'em- 
pereur, afin que les pecheurs publics fassent penitence publique, et 
soient excommunies et reconciles selon les canons. Quelques-uns ne 
se confessent pas entierement ; c'est pourquoi il faut les avertir de se 
confesser des peches de pensee, comme des peches exterieurs. II ne 
faut pas seulement se confesser a Dieu, mais aux pretres. — lb. 

Note 183. 
On doit imposer la penitence selon l'ecriture et la coutume de 
l'eglise, et bannir absolument les livres que l'on nomme penitentiels, 
dont les erreurs sont certaines, et les auteurs incertains, et qui flattent 
les pecheurs, en imposant pour de grands peches des penitences le- 
geres et inusitees. . . . — lb. 

Note 184. 
Le concile de Chalons continue : II y a beaucoup d'abus dans les 
pelerinages qui se font a Rome, a Tours et ailleurs. Des pretres et 
des clercs pretendent par-la. se purifier de leurs peches, et devoir etre 
retablis dans leur fonctions . des laiques s'imaginent acquerir l'impu- 
nite pour leurs peches passes ou a venir : les puissans en tirent un 
pretexte d'exaction sur les pauvres, les pauvres un titre de mendicite. 
— Hist. Ecc. de Fleury, t. x., p. 134-6. 

Note 185. 
Plusieurs pretres, dit le concile, soit par negligence, soit par igno- 
rance, imposent aux pecheurs des penitences autres que les canons ne 
prescrivent, se servant de certains petits livres qu'ils nomment peni- 
tentiels ; c'est pourquoi nous avons tous ordonne que chaque eveque 
dans son diocese recherche soigneusement ces livres errones, pour les 
mettre au feu ; afin que les pretres ignorans ne s'en servent plus pour 
tromper les hommes. Et ces pretres seront exactement instruits par 
leurs eveques, de la discretion avec laquelle ils doivent interroger ceux 
qui se confessent, et de la mesure de penitence qu'ils doivent leur im- 
poser ; car jusqu'ici, par leur faute, plusieurs crimes sont demeures 
impunis, au grand peril des ames. On recommande en particuliers de 
rejetter ces nouveaux penitentiels, qui trompoient les pecheurs par de 
vaines esperances, et de s'en tenir a la severite des anciens canons, 
touchant les impuretes abominables, qui n'etoient alors que trop com- 
munes. — lb., p. 272-3. 



318 APPENDIX. 

Note 186. 
Nous voyons dans les lettres du Pape Nicolas trois autres exemples 
de ces penitences canoniques, semblable a celles des premiers siecles ; 
mais ce qui paroit etrange, c'est qu'il imposoit des penitences par me- 
nace, a des pecheurs qui n'en demandoient point. Car Etienne, Comte 
d'Auvergne, ayant chasse de son siege Sigon, eveque de Clermont, et 
mis un usurpateur a sa place, le pape lui ordonne de le retablir inces- 
samment, . . . Autrement, dit le pape, nous vous defendons l'usage du 
vin et de la chair, jusques a ce que vous veniez a Rome vous presen- 
ter devant nous. — lb., t. xi., p. 161. 

Note 187. 
Par exemple, celui qui ne peut jeuner, pour un jour de jeune au pain 
et a l'eau, chantera cinquante pseaumes a genoux dans l'eglise, et nour- 
rira un pauvre ce jour-la 5 moyennant quoi il prendra telle nourriture 
qu'il plaira, excepte le vin, la chair, et la graisse. Cent genuflexions 
tiendront lieu de cinquante pseaumes ; et les riches pourront se rache- 
ter pour de 1' argent. — lb., t. xii., p. 413. 

Note 188. 
C'est la premiere fois que je trouve cette defense, mais nous pouvons 
l'expliquer favorablement, en disant que les esprits etoient tellement 
aigris, qu'on ne pouvoit arreter les contestations, qu'en otant les livres 
saints, dont les heretiques abusoient. — lb., t. xvi., p. 633. 

Note 189. 
Les penitences canoniques etoient encore en vigueur a la fin de l'on- 
zieme siecle. . . . Mais on s'etait imagine, je ne spai sur quel fondement, 
que chaque peche de meme espece meritait sa penitence : que si un 
homicide, par exemple, devait etre expie par une penitence de dix ans, 
il falloit cent ans pour dix homicides, ce qui rendait les penitences im- 
possibles, et les canons ridicules. — lb., t. xiii., Discours Preliminaire, 
p. xxxiv. 

Note 190. 
Depuis que l'on eut rendu les penitences impossibles, a force de les 
multiplier, il fallut venir a des compensations et des estimations, telles 
qu'on les voit dans le decret de Burchard, et dans les ecrits de Pierre 
Damien. C'etait des pseaumes, des genuflexions, des coups de disci- 
plines, des aumones, des pelerinages : toutes actions que l'on peut faire 
sans se convertir. . . . Les penitences acquittees par autrui le faisaient 
beaucoup moins ; et les disciplines qu'un saint moine se donnoit pour 
un pecheur, n'etaient pas pour ce pecheur des penitences medicinales. 
Car le peche n'est pas comme une dette pecuniaire, que tout autre 
peut payer a la decharge du debiteur et en quelque monnoie que ce 
soit ; c'est une maladie qu'il faut guerir en la personne du malade. — 
lb., p. xxxv. 



APPENDIX. 319 

Note 191. 
Un autre abus ftirent les penitences forcees. Pen trouve en Es- 
pagne des le septieme siecle. Ensuite les eveques voyant plusieurs pe- 
cheurs qui ne venaient point se soumettre a la penitence, s'en plaignirent 
dans les parlemens, et prierent les princes de les y contraindre par leur 
puissance temporelle. C'etait bien ignorer la nature de la penitence, 
qui consiste dans le repentir, et dans la conversion du cceur, c'etait 
mettre le pecheur, qui pour prevenir la justice divine, se punit volon- 
tairement lui-meme, au rang du criminel, que la justice humaine punit 
malgre lui. — lb., p. xxxvi. 

Note 192. 
Le plus grand mal, c'est qu'il voulait soutenir les peines spirituelles 
par les temporelles, qui n'etaient pas de sa competence. D'autres 
l'avaient deja tente, j'ai marque que les eveques imploraient le secours 
du bras seculier, pour forcer les pecheurs a penitence ; et que les 
papes avaient commence plus de deux cens ans auparavant a vouloir 
regler par autorite les droits des couronnes, Gregoire VII. suivit ees 
nouvelles maximes, et les poussa encore plus loin ; pretendant ouverte- 
ment, que comme pape, il etait en droit de deposer les souverains re- 
belles a l'eglise. II fonda cette pretention principalement sur 1' excom- 
munication. — lb., p. xli. 

Note 193. 
Voyons maintenant les consequences de ees principes. II se trouve 
un prince indigne et charge de crimes, comme Henri IV., roi d'Alle- 
magne. ... II est cite a Rome, pour rendre compte de sa conduite, il 
ne comparoit point. Apres plusieurs citations le pape l'excommunie : 
il meprise la censure. Le pape le declare dechu de la royaute, absout 
ses sujets du serment de fidelite, leur defend de lui obeir, leur permet, 
ou meme leur ordonne d'elire un autre roi. Qu'en arrivera-t-il ? Des 
seditions et des guerres civiles dans 1'etat, des schismes dans l'eglise. 
— lb., p. xlii. 

Note 194. 
Revenons done aux maximes de la sage antiquite. Un souveraiu 
peut etre excommunie comme un particulier, je le veux, mais .... les 
effets n'en seraient que spirituels- ... On n'a jamais pretendu, au moins 
dans les siecles de l'eglise les plus eclaires, qu'un particulier excom- 
munie perdit la propriete de ses biens ou de ses esclaves, ou la puis- 
sance paternelle sur ses enfans. Jesus Christ, en etablissant son 
evangile, n'a rien fait par force, mais tout par persuasion, suivant la 
remarque de S. Augustin. II a dit que son royaume n' etait pas de ce 
monde, et n'a pas voulu se donner seulement l'autorite d'arbitre entre 
deux freres. . . . Ses apotres et leurs successeurs ont suivi le meme plan. 
. . . Ce n'est qu'apres plus de mille ans qu'on s'est avise de former un 
nouveau systeme, et d'eriger le chef de l'eglise en monarque souverain, 
meme quant au temporel. &c. — lb., p. xliii.-iv 



32(> APPENDIX. 

Note 195. 
Gregoire VII. se laissa encore entrainer a la prevention deja repue, 
que Dieu devait faire eclater sa justice en cette vie. De-la vient que 
dans ses lettres il promet a ceux qui seront fideles a Saint Pierre, la pros- 
perite temporelle, en attendant la vie eternelle, et menace les rebelles 
de la perte de 1'une et de l'autre. . . . Mais Dieu ne fait pas des mira- 
cles au gre des hommes, et il semble qu : il voulut confondre la temerite 
de cette prophetic . . . Loin de cOrriger le roi Henri, il ne fait que lui 
donner occasion de commettre de nouveaux crimes : il excite des 
guerres crueiles qui mettent en feu l'Allemagne et Tltalie : il attire 
un sckisme dans l'eglise, on 1'assiege lui-meme dans Rome, il est oblige 
d'en sortir et d'aller enfin mourir en exil a Salerne. — lb., p. xliv.-v. 

Note 196. 
De toutes les suites des Croisades, la plus importante a la religion a 
ete la cessation des penitences canoniques. Je dis la cessation, et 
non pas l'abrogation : car elles n : ont jamais ete abolies expressement 
par constitution d'aucun pape, ni d'aucun concile : . . . Je n'ai rien vu 
de semblable dans toute la suite de l'histoire. Les penitences cano- 
niques sont tombees insensiblement par la faiblesse des eveques, et la 
durete des pecheurs, par negligence, par ignorance : mais elles ont 
repu le coup mortel, pour ainsi dire, par 1 : indulgence de la croisade. 
— T. xviii., Discours Preliminaire, p. xxxi., §11. 

Note 197. 
Je scais que ce n'etait pas Tintention du Pape Urbain et du concile 
de Clermont. lis croyaient, au contraire, faue deux biens a la fois : 
delivrer les lieux saints, et faciliter la penitence a mie infinite de pe- 
cheurs, qui ne l'auraient jamais faite autrement. . . . Mais il est a 
craindre qu'on n'eutpas assez considere les solides raisons des anciens 
canons qui avaient regie le tems et les exercices de la penitence. Les 
saints qui les avaient etablis, n' avaient pas seulement en vue de punir 
les pecheurs, ils cherchaient principalement a s'assurer de leur con- 
version, et voulaient encore les precautionner contre les rechutes. On 
commencait done par les separer du reste des fideles, et on les tenait 
enfermes pendant tout le tems deleur penitence, excepte lorsqu'ils de- 
vaient assister dans Teglise aux prieres communes et aux instructions. 
Ainsi on eloignait les occasions de peche ; et le recueillement de cette 
retraite donnait aux penitens le loisir et la eommodite de faire de se- 
rieuses reflexions sur l'enormite du pecbe, la rigueur de la justice de 
Dieu, les peines eternelles, et les autre verites terribles, que les pre- 
tres qui prenaient soin d'eux, ne manquaient pas de leur representer, 
pour exciter en eux l'esprit de componction. Ensuite on les consolait, 
on les encourageait, et on les affermissait peu a peu dans la resolution 
de renoncer pour toujours au peche, et mener une vie nouvelle. — Ib n 
p, xxxii- 



APPENDIX. 321 

Note 198. 
Ce ne fut que dans le huitieme siecle que l'on introduisit les peleri- 
nages, pour tenir lieu de satisfaction ; et ils commencerent a ruiner la 
penitence par les distractions et les occasions de recliutes. Encore 
ces pelerinages particuliers etaient-ils bien moins dangereux que les 
croisades. — lb., p. xxxiii. 

Note 199. 
C'etait, pour ainsi dire, des pecheurs tout eras, qui sans conversion 
de cceur, et sans preparation precedente, sinon peut-etre une confession 
telle quelle, allaient pour l'expiation de leurs peches s'exposer aux oc- 
casions les plus dangereuses d'en commettre de nouveaux : des hommes 
choisis entre ceux de la vertu la plus eprouvee auraient eu peine a se 
conserver en de tels voyages. II est vraie que quelques-uns s'y pre- 
paraient serieusement a la mort, en payant leur dettes, restituant le 
bien mal acquis, et satisfaisant a tous ceux a qui ils avaient fait quel- 
que tort ; mais il faut avouer aussi que la croisade servait de pretexte 
aux gens oberes pour ne point payer leur dettes, aux malfaicteurs pour 
eviter la punition de leur crimes, aux moines indociles pour quitter 
leur cloitres, aux femmes perdues pour continuer plus libreraent leurs 
desordres : car il s'en trouvait a la suite de ces armees, et quelques- 
unes deguisees en hommes. — lb., p. xxxiii, xxxiv. 

Note 200. 
Les croises qui s'etablirent en Orient apres la conquete, loin de se 
convertir, s'y corrompirent de plus en plus. — lb. 

Note 201. 
Enfin Jerusalem et la terre sainte sont retombees au pouvoir des 
infideles, et les croisades ont cesse depuis quatre cens ans ; mais les 
penitences canoniques ne sont point revenues. Tant que les croisades 
durerent, elles tinrent lieu de penitence ; non seulement a ceux qui se 
croisaient volontairement, mais a tous les grands pecheurs, a qui les 
eveques ne donnaient l'absolution qu'a la charge de faire en personne 
le service de la terre sainte pendant un certain terns, ou d'y entretenir 
un nombre d' hommes armes. II semblait done qu' apres la fin des croi- 
sades on dut revenir aux anciennes penitences ; mais l'usage en etait 
interrompu depuis deux cens ans au moins, et les penitences etaient 
devenues arbitraires. Les eveques n'entraient plus gueres dans le de- 
tails de 1' administration des sacramens : les freres mendians en etaient 
les ministres les plus ordinaires, et ces missionnaires passagers ne pou 
vaient suivre pendant un long terns la conduite d'un penitent, pour ex- 
aminer le progres et la solidite de sa conversion, comme faisaient autre- 
fois les propres pasteurs : ces religieux etaient obliges d'expedier 
promptement les pecheurs pour passer a d'autres. — lb., p. xxxiv., xxxv. 

Note 202. 
D'ailleurs on traitait la morale dans les ecoles comme le reste de la 
O 2 



322 APPENDIX. 

theologie, par raisonnement plus que par autorite, et problematique- 
merit, mettant tout en question, jusques aux verites les plus claires : 
d'ou sont venues avec le tems tant de decisions des casuistes, eloignees 
non-seulement de la purete de l'evangile, niais de la droite raison. Car 
ou ne va-t-on point en ces matieres, quand on se donne toute liberte 
de raisonner ? Or les casuistes se sont plus appliques a faire connaitre 
les peches, qu'a en montrer les remedes. lis se sont principaleraent 
occupes a decider ce qui est peche mortel, et a distinguer a quelle 
vertu est contraire chaque peche ; si c'est la justice, la prudence, ou la 
temperance: ils se sont etudies a mettre, pour ainsi dire, les peches 
au rabais, et a justifier plusieurs actions, que les anciens, moins sub- 
tiles mais plus sinceres, jugeaient criminelles. — lb., p. xxxv., xxxvi. 

Note 203. 
Sachez done que leur objet n'est pas de corrompre les maeurs : ce 
n'est pas leur dessein. Mais ils n'ont pas aussi pour unique but celui 
de les reformer : ce seroit une mauvaise politique. Voici quelle est 
leur pensee. Ils ont assez bonne opinion d'eux-memes, pour croire 
qu'il est utile et comme necessaire au bien de la Religion, que leur 
credit s'etende partout, et qu'ils gouvernent toutes les consciences. 
Et parce que les maximes Evangeliques et severes sont propres pour 
gouverner quelques sortes de personnes, ils s'en servent dans ces oc- 
casions ou elles leur sont favorables. Mais comme ces memes max- 
imes ne s'accordent pas au dessein de la plupart des gens, ils les lais- 
sent a l'egard de ceux-la, aim d' avoir de quoi satisfaire tout le monde. 
C'est pour cette raison qu'aiant affaire a des personnes de toutes sortes 
de conditions et de nations si differentes, il est necessaire qu'ils aient 
des Casuistes assortis a toute cette diversite. — Lettres Provinciales, 
ed. Amsterdam, A.D. 1735; Lettre 5, t. i., p. 203. 

Note 204. 
De ce principe vous jugez aisement que s'ils n'avoient que des Ca- 
suistes relachez, ils ruineroient leur principal dessein, qui est d'era- 
brasser tout le monde, puis que ceux qui sont veritablement pieux, 
cherchent une conduite plus severe. Mais comme il n'y en a pas 
beaucoup de cette sort, ils n'ont pas besoin de beaucoup de directeurs 
severes pour les conduire. lis en ont peu pour peu; au lieu que la 
foule des Casuistes relachez s'offre a la foule de ceux qui cherchent le 
relachement. — lb., p. 204. 

Note 205. 
C'est par cette conduite obligeante et accommodante, comme l'ap- 
pelle le P. Petau, qu'ils tendent les bras a tout le monde. . . . Par la ils 
conservent tous leurs amis, et se defendent contre tous leurs ennemis. 
— lb., t. i., p. 204. 

Note 206. 
Une action ne peut etre imputee a peche, si Dieu ne nous donne, avant 
de la commettre, la connoissance du mal qui y est. et une inspiration qui 



APPENDIX. 323 

nous excite a Veviter. — lb., Quatrieme Lettre de la Grace actuelle, t. i., 
p. 156. 

Note 207. 
Une action ne pent etre imputee a blame lors qxCelle est involontaire. 
Afin qxCune action soit volontaire, il faut qu'elle procede oVhomme qui 
voit, qui sache, qui penetre ce qu'il y a de Men et de mal en elle. — lb., 
p. 168. 

Note 208. 

Une opinion est appelee probable, lorsqu'elle est fondee sur des raisons 
de quelque consideration. D^ou il arrive quelquefois, qu'un seul Doc- 
teur fort grave peut rendre une opinion probable. Car un homme 
adonne particulierement a V etude, ne s' attacheroit pas a une opinion, 
s'il n'y etoit attire par une raison bonne et suffisante. 

.... Et la restriction qu J y aportent certains auteurs ne me plait pas, 
que Vautorite d'un tel Docteur est suffisante dans les choses de droit hu- 
main, mats non pas dans cclles de droit divin. Car elle est de grand 
poids dans les unes et dans les autres. 

The Jesuits Sanchez, Angelus, Sylvius, Navarre, Emmanuel Sa, &c, 
quoted by Pascal, Lettre 5, De la Probability, t. i., p. 211-12. 

Note 209. 
Cela n'en est que mieux. lis ne s'accordent au contraire presque 
jamais. II y a peu de questions, ou vous ne trouviez que l'un dit, oui ; 
l'autre dit, non. Et en tous ces cas-la, l'une et l'autre des opinions 
contraires est probable. — lb., p. 213. 

Note 210. 

Un Docteur etant consulte, peut donner un conseil, non seulement pro- 
bable selon son opinion; mais contraire a son opinion, sHl est estime 
probable par d : autres, lors que cct avis contraire au sien, se rencontre 
plus favorable, et plus agreable a celui qui le consulte. Mais je dis 
de plus, qu'il ne sera point hors de raison, qu'il donne a ceux qui le con- 
sultent, un avis tenu pour probable par quelque personne savante, quand 
meme il s' assurer oit quHl seroit absolument faux. 

The Jesuits Laiman, Vasquez, Sanchez, &c, quoted by Pascal, ib., p. 
214. 

Note 211. 

Quand le penitent, dit le P. Bauni entr'autres, suit une opinion pro- 
bable, le Confesseur le doit absoudre, quoique son opinion soit contraire 
a celle du penitent. . . . Refuser V absolution a un penitent qui agit selon 
une opinion probable, est un peche qui de sa nature est mortel. 

The Jesuit Doctors Bauni, Suarez, Vasquez, and Sanchez, quoted by 
Pascal, ib., p. 215-16. 



324 APPENDIX. 



Note 212. 
Dans les questions de Morale, les nouveaux Casuistes sont preferable* 
aux anciens Peres, quoiquHls fitssent plus proches des Apotres. 
The Jesuits Cellot and Reginald, quoted by Pascal, ib., p. 216. 

Note 213. 

Par exemple, Ie Pape Gregoire XIV. a declare que les assassins 
sont indignes de jouir de l'azyle des Eglises, et qu'on les en doit ar- 
racher. Cependant nos 24 Viellards disent que tous ceux qui tuent en 
trahison, ne doivent pas encourir la peine de cette Bulle. Cela vous 
paroit etre contraire, mais on l'accorde, en interpretant le mot d' assas- 
sin, comme ils font par ces paroles : Les assassins ne sont ils pas indi- 
gnes de jouir du privilege des Eglises ? Qui par la Bulle de Gregoire 
XIV. Mais nous entendons par le mot $ assassins, ceux qui ont recu 
de Vargent pour tuer quelq'un en trahison. D'oih il arrive que ceux 
qui tuent sans en recevoir aucun prix, mais seulement pour obliger leurs 
amis, ne sont pas appellez assassins. De rneme il est dit dans l'Evan- 
gile : Donnez Vaumone de voire superfiu. Cependant plusieurs Casu- 
istes ont trouve moien de decharger les personnes les plus riches de 
l'obligation de dormer l'aumone. Cela vous paroit encore contraire ; 
mais on en fait voir facilement l'accord, en interpretant le mot de su- 
perfiu, en sorte qu'il arrive presque jamais que personne en ait. Et 
c'est ce qu'a fait le docte Vasquez en cette sorte dans son traite de 
l'Aumone, c. 4. Ce que les personnes du monde gardent pour relever 
lew condition et celles de leurs parens, rfest pas appelle superfiu. Et 
c'est pourquoi a peine trouvera-t-on quHl y ait jamais de superfiu dans 
les gens du monde, et non pas meme dans les rois. 

Aussi Diana aiant rapporte ces memes paroles de Vasquez ; car il 
se fonde ordinairement sur nos Peres, il en conclut fort bien, Que dans 
la question : Si les riches sont obligez de donner Vaumone de leur super- 
fiu : encore que V affirmative fut veritable, il n'arrivera jamais, ou 
presque jamais, qu'elle oblige dans la pratique. — Pascal, Let. Prov. y 
Sixieme Lettre, t. ii., p. 2-3. 

Note 214. 
Quand le terns a meuri une opinion, alors elle est tout-a-fait probable 
et sure. Et de la vient que le docte Caramouel dans la Lettre ou il 
addresse a Diana sa Theologie fondamentale, dit que ce grand Diana 
a rendu plusieurs opinions probables qui ne Vetoient pas auparavant : et 
qu'ainsi on ne peche plus en les suivant, au lieu qu'on pechoit aupara- 
vant. — lb., p. 8. 

Note 215. 
Helas ! me dit le Pere, notre principal but auroit ete de n'etablir 
point d'autres maximes que celles de l'Evangile dans toute leur seve- 
rite. Et l'on voit assez par le reglement de nos moeurs, qui si nous 
souffrons quelque relachement dans les autres, c'est plutot par condes- 
cendance que par dessein. Nous y sommes forcez. Les homines sont 



APPENDIX. 325 

aujourd'hui tellement corrompus, que ne pouvant les faire venir a nous, 
il faut bien que nous allions a eux. Autrement il nous quitteroient 5 
ils feroient pis, ils s'abandonneroient entierement. Et c'est pour les 
retenir que nos Casuistes ont considere les vices auxquels on est le 
plus porte dans toutes les conditions, afin d'etablir des maximes si 
douces, sans toutefois blesser la verite, qu'on seroit de difficile compo- 
sition si l'on n'en etoit content. Car le dessein capital que notre Societe 
a pris pour le bien de la Religion, est de ne rebuter qui que ce soit, 
pour ne pas desesperer le monde. 

Nous avons done des maximes pour toutes sortes de personnes, pour 
les beneficiers, pour les Pretres, pour les Religieux, pour les Gentils- 
hommes, pour les domestiques, pour les riches, pour ceux qui sont dans 
le commerce, pour ceux qui sont mal dans leurs affaires, pour ceux 
qui sont dans l'indigence, pour les femmes devotes, pour celles qui ne 
le sont pas, pour les gens mariez, pour les gens dereglez. Enfin rien 
n'a echappe a leur prevoiance. — lb., t. ii., p. 8—9. 

Note 216. 
Commencons par les beneficiers. Vous savez quel trafic on fait 
aujourd ; hui des benefices, et que s'il fallait s'en rapporter a ce que S. 
Thomas et les anciens en ont ecrit, il y auroit bien des Simoniaques 
dans l'Eglise. C'est pourquoi il a ete fort necessaire, que nos Peres 
aient tempere les choses par leur prudence, comme ces paroles de 
Valentia vous l'apprendront. . . . Si Von donne un bien temporel pour un 
bien spirituel: c'est a dire de l'argent pour un benefice : et qu'on donne 
V argent comme le prix du benefice, c'est une simonie visible. Mais si on 
le donne comme le motif qui porte la volonte du Collateur a le confer er ; 
ce n'est point simonie, encore que celui qui le confer e, considere et attende 
V argent comme la fin principale. . . . Par ce moien nous empechons une 
infinite de simonies. Car qui seroit assez mechant pour refuser, en 
dormant de l'argent pour un benefice, de porter son intention a le don- 
ner comme un motif qui porte le benefice a le resigner, au lieu de le 
donner comme le prix du benefice? Personne n'est assez abandonne 
de Dieu pour cela. — lb., p. 9-10. 

Note 217. 
Quant aux Pretres, nous avons plusieurs maximes qui leur sont as- 
sez favorables. Par exemple, . . . le.Pere Bauni .... resout ainsi cette 
question : Un pretre peut il dire la Messe le mjeme jour quHl a commis 
un pecke mortel et des plus criminels, en se confessant auparavant ? 
Non, dit Villalobos, a cause de son impurete : mais Sancius dit que Oui, 
et sans aucun peche, et je tiens son opinion sure, et qu'elle doit etre sui- 
vie dans la pratique. — lb., p. 12. 

Note 218. 

Vous avez raison, mais c'est que vous ne savez pas encore cette 

belle maxime de nos Peres : Que les lois de VEglise perdent leur force, 

quand on ne les observe plus • . . . . Filiutius, &c. Nous voions mieux 

que les anciens les necessitez presentes do l'Eglise. — lb., t. ii., p. 13. 



326 APPENDIX. 

Note 219. 
Mais en voila assez pour les Pretres .... venons aux Religieux. 
Comme leur plus grande difficulte est en l'obeissance qu'ils doivent a 
leurs Superieurs, ecoutez l'adoucissement qu'y apportent nos Peres. . . \ 
II est hors de dispute, que le Religieux qui a pour soi une opinion pro- 
bable, n'est point tenu d'obeir a son Superieur, quoique V opinion du Su- 
perieur soit la plus probable. Car alors il est permis au Religieux 
d'embrasser celle qui lui est la plus agreable. — lb., p. 13-14; Castrus 
Paldus and others. 

Note 220. 
Touchant les valets. Nous avons considere a leur egard la peine 
qu'ils ont, quand ils sont gens de conscience, a servir des maitres de- 
bauchez. Car s'ils ne font tous les messages ou. ils les emploient, ils 
per dent leur fortune, et s'ils leur obeissent, ils en ont du scrupule. 
C'est pour les en soulager que nos 24 Peres ont marque les services 
qu'ils peuvent rendre en svirete de conscience. En voici quelques uns : 
Porter des lettres et des presens, ouvrir les portes et les fenetres ; aider 
leur maitre a monter a la fenetre, tenir Vechelle pendant qu'il y monte ; 
tout cela est permis et indifferent. II est vraie que pour Vechelle il faut 
qu'ils soient menacez plus qu'a V ordinaire, s'ils y manquoient. Car 
c'est faire injure au maitre d'une maison d'y entrer par la fenetre. — 
lb., p. 15. 

Note 221. 
Mais notre Pere Bauni a encore bien appris aux valets a rendre tous 
ces devoirs-la innocemment a leurs maitres, en faisant qu'ils portent 
leur intention, non pas aux pecliez dont ils sont entremetteurs, mais 
seulement au gain qui leur en revient. . . . Que les confesseurs, dit il, 
remarquent bien, qu'on ne pcut absoudre les valets qui font des messages 
deshonnetes, s'ils consentent aux pechez de leurs maitres ; mais il faut 
dire le contraire, s'ils le font pour leur commodite temporelle. — lb., p. 
15-16. 

Note 222. 
Le meme P. Bauni a encore etabli cette grande maxime en faveur 
de ceux qui ne sont pas contens de leur gages. Les valets qui se 
plaignent de leurs gages, peuvent-ils d'eux-memes les croitre en se gar- 
nissant les mains d'autant de bien appartenant a leurs maitres, comme 
ils s'imaginent en etre necessaire pour egaler lesdits gages a leur peine ? 
Ils le peuvent en quelques rencontres, comme lorsqu'ils sont si pauvres 
en cher chant condition, qu'ils ont etc obligez d' accepter I'offre qu'on leur 
a faite, et que les autres valets de leur sorte gagnent davantage ailleurs. 
—lb., t. ii., p. 15-16. 

Note 223. 
Sachez done que ce principe merveilleux est notre grande methode 
de diriger Vintention dont l'importance est telle dans notre morale, 



APPENDIX. 327 

que j'oserois quasi la comparer a la doctrine de la Probability Mais 

je veux maintenant vous faire voir cette grande methode dans tout son 
lustre sur le sujet de 1' homicide, qu'elle justifie en mille rencontres ; 
afln que vous jugiez par un tel efFet tout ce qu'elle est capable de pro- 
duire. . . . Nous ne souffrons jamais d' avoir 1' intention formelle de pe- 
cher, pour le seul dessein de pecher; et que quiconque s'obstine a 
n" avoir point d' autre fin dans le mal que le mal meme, nous rompons 
avec lui : cela est diabolique : voila qui est sans exception d'age, de 
sexe, de qualite. Mais quand on n'est pas dans cette malheureuse 
disposition, alors nous essaions de mettre en pratique notre methode 
de diriger V intention, qui consiste a se proposer pour fin de ses actions 
un objet permis. Ce n'est pas qu'autant qu'il est en notre pouvoir, 
nous ne detournions les hommes des choses defendues 5 mais quand 
nous ne pouvons pas empecher Taction, nous purifions au moins l'in- 
tention ; et ainsi nous corrigeons le vice du moien, par la purete de la 
fin. — lb., p. 85-6, Lettre VII., De V Homicide. 

Note 224. 
Pour vous faire voir l'alliance que nos Peres ont faite des maximes 
de l'Evangile, avec celles du monde, par cette direction d'intention, 
ecoutez notre Pere Reginaldus : II est defendu aux particuliers de se 
vanger. Car Saint Paul dit, Ne rendez a personne le mal pour le mal. 
. . . Outre tout ce qui est dit dans V Evangih, du pardon des offenses, 
comme dans les chapitres 6 et 18 de Saint Mathieu. . . . De toutes ces 
choses il paroit qu'un homme de guerre pent sur Vheure meme poursuivre 
celui qui Va blesse ; non pas a la verite avec V intention de rendre le mal 
pour le mal, mais avec celle de conserver son honneur. — lb., p. 87. 

Note 225. 
Voiez-vous comment ils ont soin de defendre d'avoir l'intention de 
rendre le mal pour le mal, parceque l'Ecriture le condamne ? , Ils ne 
l'ont jamais soufFert. Voiez Lessius, De just., Celui qui a recu un 
soufflet, ne peut pas avoir V intention de s'en vanger : mais il peut bien 
avoir celle d'eviter Vinfamie, et pour cela de repousser a V instant cette 
injure, et meme a coups d J epee ; Etiam cum gladio. Nous sommes si 
eloignez de souffrir qu'on ait le dessein de se vanger de ses ennemis, 
que nos Peres ne veulent pas seulement, que l'on souhaite la mort par 
un mouvement de haine. Voiez notre Pere Escobar : Si voire ennemi 
est dispose a vous nuire, vous ne devez pas souhaiter sa mort par mi 
mouvement de haine, mais vous le pouvez bien faire pour eviter voire 
dommage. — lb., p. 88. 

Note 226. 
Ecoutez encore ce passage de notre Pere Gaspar Hurtado, cite par 
Diana. Un beneficier peut sans aucun peche mortel desirer la mort de 
celui qui a une pension sur son benefice ; et un fils celle de son Pere, et 
se rejouir quand elle arrive, pourvu que ce ne soit que pour le bien qui 
lui en revient, et non pas par une haine personelle. — lb., p. 89. 



328 ArPENDix. 



Note 227. 
Si un gentil-homme qui est appelle en duel, est connu pour n'etre pas 
devot, et que les pechez qu'on lui voit commettre a toute heure sans scru- 
pule, f assent aisement juger, que sHl refuse le duel ce n'est pas par la 
crainte de Dieu, mats par timidite, et qu'ainsi on dise de lui que J est 
une poule, et non pas un homme ; il peut pour conserver son honneur, se 
trouver au lieu assigne, non pas veritablement avec V intention expresse 
de se battre en duel, inais seulement avec celle de se defendre, si celui qui 
Va appelle, Vy vient attaquer injustement. Et son action sera toute in- 
differente d'elle-meme. Car quel mal y a-t-il dialler dans un champ, de 
s>y promener en attendant un homme, et de se defendre si on Vy vient 
attaquer ? Et ainsi il ne peche en aucwne maniere, puisque ce n'est 
point du tout accepter un duel, aiant V intention dirigee a d'autres cir- 
constances. Car V acceptation du duel consiste en Vintention expresse de 
se battre, laquelle celui-ci n'a pas. — lb., p. 89. 

Note 228. 
Enfin Sanchez .... permet non seulement de recevoir, mais encore 
d'offrir le duel, en dirigeant bien son intention. II est bien raisonnable 
de dire, qu'un homme peut se battre en duel pour sauver sa vie, son hon- 
neur, ou son bien en une quantite considerable, lorsque il est constant 
qu'on les lui veut ravir injustement par des proces et des chicaneries, et 
qu'il rfy a que ce seul moyen de les conserver. Et Navarre dit fort bien, 
qu'en cette occasion il est permis d' 'accepter et d'offrir le duel : Licet ac- 
ceptare, et offerre duellum. Et aussi qu'on peut tuer en cachette son 
ennemi. Et meme en ces rencontres la on ne doit point user de la voie 
du duel, si on peut tuer en cachette son homme, et sortir par-la d' af- 
faire. Car par ce moien on evitera tout ensemble, et d'exposer sa vie 
dans un combat, et de participer au peche que notre ennemi commettroit 
par un duel. — lb., t. ii., p. 91. 

Note 229- 
Selon notre Pere Baldelle, rapporte par Escobar, B est permis de 
tuer celui qui vous dit : Vous avez menti, si on ne peut le reprimer au- 
trement. Et on peut tuer de la meme sorte pour des m6disances, selon 
nos Peres. Car Lessius, que le Pere Hereau entr'autres suit mot a 
mot, dit : Si vous tachez de ruiner ma reputation par des calomnies de- 
vant les personnes aVhonneur, et que je ne puisse Veviter autrement qu'en 
vous tuant, le puis-je faire ? Oui, selon des Auteurs modernes, et meme 
encore que le crime que vous publiez soit veritable, si toutefois il est se- 
cret, en sorte que vous ne puissiez le decouvrir selon les voies de la jus- 
tice. Et en void la preuve. Si vous me voulez ravir Vhonneur en me 
donnant un soufflet, je puis Vempecher par la force des armes ; done la 
meme defense est permise, quand vous me voulez faire la meme injure 
avec la langue. De plus on peut empecher les affronts ; done on peut 
empecher les medisances. Enfin Vhonneur est plus cher que la vie. Or 
on peut tuer pour defendre sa vie ; done on peut tuer pour defendre son 
honneur. — lb., p. 95-6. 



APPENDIX, 329 



Note 230. 
Mais comme nos Peres sont fort circonspects, ils ont trouve a, pro- 
pos de defendre de mettre cette doctrine en usage, en ces petites oc- 
casions. Car ils disent au moins, Qii'a peine doit-on la pratiquer. Et 
ce n'a pas ete sans raison ; la voici. Je le sais bien, lui dis-je ; c'est 
parceque la loi de Dieu defend de tuer. Ils ne le prennent pas par la, 
me dit le Pere : ils le trouvent permis en conscience, et en ne regar- 
dant que la verite en elle-meme. Et pourquoi le defendent ils done? 
Ecoutez le, dit il : C'est parce qu'on depeupleroit un Etat moins de 
rien, si on en tuoit tous les medisans. Aprenez-le de notre Reginaldus : 
Encore que cette opinion qu'on pent tuer pour une medisance, ne soit pas 
sans Probability dans la theorie, il faut suivre le contraire dans la pra- 
tique. Car il faut toujours eviter le dommage de V Etat dans la ma~ 
niere de se defendre. Or il est visible qu'en tuant le monde de cette 
sorte, il se feroit un grand nombre de meurtres. Lessius en parle de 
meme. II faut prendre garde que Vusage de cette maxime ne soit nui- 
sible a VEtat. Car alors il ne faut pas le permettre. — lb., t. ii., p. 
96-7. 

Note 231. 
Tannerus dit : Qu^il est permis aux Ecclesiastiques, et aux Religieux 
memes, de tuer pour defendre non seulement leur vie, mais aussi leur 
Men, ou celui de leur Communaute. Molina, Becan, Reginaldus, Lay- 
man, Lessius, et les autres.se servent tous des memes paroles. Et 
meme selon notre celebre P. l'Amy, il est permis aux Pretres et aux 
Religieux de prevenir ceux qui les veulent noircir par des medisances, 
en les tuant pour les en empecher. Mais c'est toujours en dirigeant 
bien l'intention. Voici ses termes. II est permis a un Ecclesiastique, 
a un Religieux, de tuer un calomniateur qui menace de publier des 
crimes scandaleux de sa Communaute, ou de lui-meme, quand il n'y a 
que ce seul moien de Ven empecher, comme sHl est pret a repandre ses 
medisances, si on ne le tue promtement. Car en ce cas, comme il seroit 
permis a ce Religieux de tuer celui qui lui voudroit oter la vie ; il lui est 
permis aussi de tuer celui qui lui veut oter Vhonneur, ou celui de sa Com- 
munaute, de la meme sorte qu'aux gens du monde. — lb., p. 99-100. 

Note 232. 
Je veux maintenant vous parler des facilitez que nous avons apor- 
tees pour faire eviter les peches dans les conversations et dans les in- 
trigues du monde. Une chose des plus embarassantes qui s'y trouve, 
est d' eviter le mensonge ; et sur tout quand on voudrait bien faire ac- 
croire une chose fausse. C'est a quoi sert admirablement notre doc- 
trine des equivoques, par laquelle il est permis denser de termes ambi- 
gus, en les faisant entendre en un autre sens, qu'on ne les entend soi- 
meme, comme dit Sanchez. . . . Nous 1' avons tant publie qu'a la fin tout 
le monde en est instruit. . Mais savez vous bien comment il faut faire 
quand on ne trouve point de mots equivoques? Non, mon Pere. Je 
m'en doutois bien, dit-il : cela est nouveau : c'est la doctrine des res- 



330 APPENDIX. 

trictions mentales. Sanchez la donne au meme lieu : On peut jurer, 
dit il, qu'on n'a pas fait une chose, quoi qu'on Vait fait effectivement, 
entendant en soi-meme, qu'on ne Va pas faite un certain jour, ou avant 
qu'on fut ne, ou en sous-entendant quelqu' autre cir Constance par exile, 
sans que les paroles dont on se sert, aient aucun sens qui le puisse faire 
connoitre. Et cela est fort commode en beaucoup de rencontres, et est 
toujours tres-juste quand cela est necessaire ou utile pour la sante, Vhon- 
neur, ou le bien. — lb., Lettre IX:, t. ii., p. 179-80. 

Note 233. 
Comment, mon Pere, et n'est-ce pas la un mensonge, et meme un 
parjure ? Non, dit le Pere ; Sanchez le prouve au meme lieu, et notre 
P. Filiutius aussi, parce, dit-il, que c'est V intention qui regie la qualite 
de faction. Et il y donne encore un autre moien plus sur d'eviter le 
mensonge. C'est qu'apres avoir dit tout haut, Je jure que je n'ai point 
fait cela, on ajoute tout bas, aujouroVhui: ou qu'apres avoir dit tout 
haut, Je jure, on dise tout bas, que je dis, et que l'on continue ensuite 
tout haut, que je n'ai point fait cela. Vous voiez bien que c'est dire 
la verite. Je l'avoue, lui dis-je ; mais nous trouverions peut-etre que 
c'est dire la verite tout bas, et un mensonge tout haut : outre que je 
craindrois que bien des gens n'eussent pas assez de presence d'esprit 
pour se servir de ces methodes. Nos Peres, dit-il, ont enseigne au 
meme lieu en faveur de ceux qui ne scauroient pas user de ces res- 
trictions, qu'il leur suffit pour ne point mentir, de dire simplement 
quHls n'ont point fait ce qu'ils ont fait, pourvu quHls aient en general 
Vintention de donner a leurs discours le sens qu'un habile homme y don- 
neroit. — lb. 

Note 234. 
Dites la verite : il vous est arrive bien des fois d'etre embarasse 
manque de cette connaissance ? Quelquefois, lui dis-je. Et n'avoue- 
rez vous pas de meme, continua-t-il, qu'il seroit souvent bien commode 
d'etre dispense en conscience de tenir de certaines paroles qu'on donne ? 
Ce seroit, lui dis-je, la plus grande commodite du monde. Ecoutez 
done Escobar, ou il donne cette regie generale : Les promesses n'obli- 
gent point, quand on n'a point intention de s'obliger en les faisant. Or 
il n 'arrive guere qu'on ait cette intention, a moins que Von les confirme 
par serment, ou par contract ; de sorte que quand on dit simplement, je 
le ferai, on entend qu'on le fera si Von ne change de volonte. Car on 
ne veut pas se priver par-la de sa liberte. II dit a la fin, que tout cela 
est pris de Molina, et de nos autres auteurs : et ainsi on n'en peut dou- 
tev.—Ib., p. 181. 

Note 235. 
Ce n'est qu'un peche veniel de calomnier et d'imposer des faux 
crimes, pour miner de creance ceux qui parlent mal de nous. . . . E 
est constant, dit Caramouel, que c'est une opinion probable, qiVil n'y a 
point de peche mortel a calomnier faussement pour conserver son hon- 
neur. Car elle est soutenue par plus de vingt Docteurs graves, par 



APPENDIX. 331 

Gaspar Hurtado, et Dicastillus, Jesuites, tyc, de sorte que si cette doc- 
trine n'etoit probable, a peine y en auroit-il aucune qui le fut en toute 
la Theologie. — Lettre XV., t. hi., p. 183-4. 

Note 236. 
Le pretre est oblige de croire son penitent sur sa parole . . . .il n'est 
pas necessaire que le Confesseur se persuade que la resolution de son pe- 
nitent s ' l executera r ni qu'il le juge meme probablement : mais il suffit qu'il 
pense qu'il en a a Vheure meme le dessein en general, quoi qu'il doive 
retomber en bien peu de terns. Et c'est ce qu" 'enseignent tous nos auteurs. 
— Suarez and Filiutius, quoted by Pascal, Lettre X., t. ii., p. 219. 

Note 237. 
Le P. Petau parle de Vancienne Eglise. Mais cela est maintenant 
si peu de saison, pour user des termes de nos Peres, que selon le P. 
Bauni le contraire est seul veritable. II y a des auteurs qui disent 
qu'on doit refuser V absolution a ceux qui retombent souvent dans les 
memes pechez, et principalement lors qu'apres les avoir plusieurs fois 
absous, il n'en paroit aucun amandement et d'autres disent que non. 
Mais la seule veritable opinion est, quHl ne faut point leur refuser V ab- 
solution : et encore qu'ils ne profttent point de tous les avis qu'on leur a 
souvent donnez, qu'ils n'aient pas garde les promesses qu'ils ont faites 
de changer de vie, qu'ils n'aient pas travaille a se purifier, il n'importe ; 
et quoi qu'en disent les autres, la veritable opinion, et laquelle on doit 
suivre, est que meme en tous ces cas on les doit absoudre. Et tr. 4, q. 
22, p. 100. Qu'on ne doit ni refuser, ni differer V absolution a ceux qui 
sont dans des pechez d'habitude contre la hi de Dieu, de nature, et de 
V Eglise, quoi qu'on n'y voie aucune esperance d' amandement. — lb., p. 
219-20. 

Note 238. 
Ecoutez le P. Bauni : On peut absoudre celui qui avoue que V espe- 
rance d : etre absous Va- porte a pecker avec plus de facilile, qu'il n'eut 
fait sans cette esperance. Et le P. Caussin defendant cette proposition, 
dit que si elle n'etoit veritable, V usage de la Confession seroit inter dit a 
la plupart du monde ; et qu'il n'y auroit plus d 1 autre remede aux pe- 
cheurs qu'une branche darbre et une corde. — lb., p. 220. 

Note 239. 
Nos Peres Fagundez, Granados et Escobar, dans la pratique selon 
notre Societe, ont decide, que la contrition n'est pas necessaire meme a 
la mort : parce, disent ils, que si V attrition avec le Sacrement ne suffisoit 
pas a la mort, il s' 'ensuivroit, que V attrition ne seroit pas suffisante avec 
le Sacrement. — lb., p. 225-6. 

Note 240. 
La condition est si peu necessaire au sacrement, qu'elle y seroit au 
contraire nuisible, en ce qu'effacant les pechez par elle-meme, elle ne 
laisseroit rien a faire au sacrement. C'est ce que dit notre Pere Va- 



332 APPENDIX. 

lentia, ce celebre Jesuite, . . . La contrition n'est point du tout neces- 
saire pour obtenir Veffet principal du Sacrement, mais au contraire elle 
y est plutot un obstacle : Imo obstat potius quominils effectus sequatur. 
—lb., p. 227. 

Note 241. 
Notre Pere Antoine Sirmond .... dans son admirable livre de la De- 
fense de la vertu, . . . conclut enfin, qu'on n'est oblige a autre chose a 
la rigueur qu'a observer les autres commandemens, sans aucune affec- 
tion pour Dieu, et sans que notre ccEur soit a lui, pourvu qu'on ne le 
ha'isse pas. C'est ce qu'il prouve en tout son second traite . . . . ou il 
dit ces mots : Dieu en nous commandant de V aimer, se contente que nous 
lui obeissions en ses autres commandemens. Si Dieu eut dit: Je vous 
perdrai, quelque obeissance que vous me rendiez, si de plus voire cantr 
rfest a moi, ce motif a votre avis eut-il etc bien proportionne a la Jin 
que Dieu a du et a pu avoir ? II est done dit, que nous aimerons Dieu 
en faisant sa volonte, comme si nous Vaimions d' affection; comme si le 
motif de la charite nous y portoit. Si cela arrive reellement, encore 
mieux: si non, nous ne laisserons pas pourtant d^obeir en rigueur au com- 
mandement d' 'amour, en aiant les ceuvres, de faqon que (voiez la bonte 
de Dieu) il ne nous est pas tant commande de V aimer, que de ne le point 
hair. — lb., p. 228-9. 

Note 242. 
C'est ainsi que nos Peres ont decharge les hommes de l'obligation 
penible d'aimer Dieu actuellement. Et cette doctrine est si avanta- 
geuse, que nos Peres Annat, Pintereau, Le Moine, et A. Sirmond 
meme, l'ont defendue vigoureusenient, quand on a voulu la combattre. 
Vous n'avez qu'a le voir dans leurs reponses a la Theologie morale, et 
celle du Pere Pintereau .... vous fera juger de la valeur de cette dis- 
pense, par le prix qu'il dit qu'elle a coute, qui est le sang de Jesus- 
Christ. C'est le couronnement de cette doctrine. Vous y verrez 
done que cette dispense de l'obligation facheuse d'aimer Dieu, est le 
privilege de la loi Evangelique, par dessus la Judaique. — lb., p. 229- 
30. 

Note 243. 

Quid est Sacramentum? 

Proprie est ceremonia in Evangelio instituta, cui est addita promis- 
sio Evangelii. 

Quot sunt ? 

Tria recte numerantur, Baptismus, Absolutio, Ccena Domini. — Cat- 
echesis puerilis, Philip. Melancth. opp., t. i., p. 25, ed. A.D. 1562. 

Note 244. 
De Confessione. 
Confessio in Ecclesiis apud nos non est abolita. Non enim solet 
porrigi corpus Domini, nisi antea exploratis et absolutis. . . . Ornatur 



APPENDIX. 333 

potestas clavitun, et commemoratur, quantam consolationem afFerat 
perterrefactis conscientiis, et quod requirat Dens fidem, ut illi absolu- 
tion! tanquam voci de cceIo sonanti credamus, et quod ilia fides in 

Christum vere consequatur, et accipiat remissionem peccatorum 

—lb., p. 33. 

Note 245. 
Sed de confessione docent, quod enumeratio delictorum non sit ne- 
cessaria, nee sint onerandae conscientiae cura enumerandi omnia delicta, 
quia impossibile est omnia delicta recitare, ut testatur Psal., Delicta 
quis intelligit? Item Jeremias, Pravum est cor hominis et inscrutabile . 
Quod si nulla peccata nisi recitata remitterentur, nunquam acquies- 
cere conscientiae possent, quia plurima peccata neque vident neque 
meminisse possunt. Testantur et veteres scriptores enumerationem 
non esse necessariam. Na.m in Decretis citatur Chrysostomus, qui 
sic ait, Non tibi dico ut te prodas in publicum, neque apud alios te ac- 
cuses, sed obedire te volo prophetae dicenti, Revela ante Deum viam 
tuam. Ergo tua confitere peccata apud Deum, verum judicem, cum 
oratione. Delicta tua pronuncia non lingua, sed conscientiae tuae me- 
moria, &c Et glossa in Decretis de Pcenitentia (Dist. 5), fatetur hu- 
mani juris esse confessionem. Verum confessio, cum propter maxi- 
mum absolutionis beneficium, turn propter alias conscientiarum utili- 
tates apud nos retinetur. — Confessio Fidei exhibita Invictiss. Imp. Ca- 
rolo V. Aug., Philip. Melancth. opp., t. i., p. 34. 

Note 246. 
Ideoque docent nostri retinendam esse in Ecclesiis privat'am Abso- 
lutionem, et ejus dignitatem, et potestatem clavium veris et amplissi- 
mis laudibus ornant, quod videlicet potestas clavium administret Evan- 
gelium non solum in genere omnibus, sed etiam privatim singulis, &c. 
— lidem Articuli copiosius et explicatius declarati Wormatice, &c, Philip. 
Melancth. opp., t. i., p. 49. 

Note 247. 
De Pcenitentia. 

Sunt autem partes pcenitentiae duae, Contritio et Fides. — lb., 

p. 25. 

Note 248. 
De Satisfaction. 
Consuetudo satisfactionum improbanda est, et rejicienda doctrina de 
satisfactionibus. Cavendum est enim omni studio, ne obruatur doc- 
trina de gratuita acceptatione et de fide. Luceat haec sententia in 
Ecclesiis, quod gratis propter Christum donetur remissio culpae et 
poenae aeternae, quod Christus sit satisfactio et victima pro peccatis 
nostris, quod nulla nostra opera sint satisfactiones pro peccatis nostris. 
— Catechesis puerilis, Philip. Melancth. opp., t. i., p. 26-7. 



331 APPENDIX. 



Note 249. 
Deus perdat istos impios Sophistas, tarn sceleste detorquentes ver- 
bum Dei ad sua somnia vanissima. Quis bonus vir non commoveatur 
indignitate tanta ? Christus inquit : Agite pcBnitentiam. Apostoli 
praedicant poenitentiam. Igitur poenae seternae compensantur satisfac- 
tionibus nostris ! Igitur claves habent mandatum remittendi partem 
po3narum purgatorii ! Igitur satisfactiones redimunt poenas purgato- 
rii ! Quis docuit istos asinos hanc Dialecticam ? — Apologia Confessio- 
nis, Philip. Melancth. opp., t. i., p. 91. 



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